Lauren the Echidna Volume 1
by WhiteFireEclipse
Summary: Volume 1 for my Sonic FanFiction. Hopefully, I got the layout right for the chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Lauren the Echidna Chapter 1**

**Confrontation**

**It's kind of hard being a kid sometimes, even though I'm a teenager, it's just hard. Being at school, doing homework, projects, all that stuff, you start to think about when it's all going to be over. When is all this going to be over with? Where am I going to college? How am I going to apply myself? All the same questions veered inside everyone's head during the last few years of their school-days.**

**Me, I'm a senior at my school, soon to be graduating and leaving school for good, with the exceptions of classes at college or anything like that. But what if one day you had woke up and became something you weren't? Well, for some people that would be weird, but that…didn't happen to me. It's kind of hard to explain but I'm going to explain anyway.**

**A normal day at school wasn't that difficult to handle, because of the teachers giving you homework and just talking about some things that pertain to nothing that the class is about…no it wasn't that hard.**

**As a teenager in class, most of the time not listening since the teacher is off subject, I sat there doodling in my notebook, wandering off in a daydream while staring at the book. It was pretty boring listening to my teacher go on and on and on, but later he finally got on subject and I continued writing notes.**

**Since it was Friday, the Activity Period was actually chapel day so around eleven-thirty we made our way to the gym and sat on the bleachers that were suspended about I'd say…seven to nine feet high. As all the high school listened to the speaker, the light shining through the windows of the roof and the sound of the creaking of the bleachers because of everyone shifting their position to get comfortable, there was suddenly a crash coming from outside. Everyone began to evacuate like lightning, but I was curious as to what crashed. It couldn't have been anything like a meteor, but it sounded like a missile or some kind of bomb. It couldn't help but be pushed out by one of the teachers behind me telling me to get to a safer part of the gym.**

**I began to think to myself, why was this happening? There aren't any terrorists that could've had enough patience to bomb us for no reason. The crash got louder as all the high school kids were shivering in fear not wanting to die. Being me, I wasn't that scared. I didn't want to die either, but I just had a curious look on my face as I helped everyone calm down, even though they really didn't want to listen to me. We managed to keep ourselves safe for the next ten minutes, and finally I couldn't take it anymore, I had to know what was going on. Most of the teachers had peeked outside to see what was happening. So I, with my blue jeans, and red and black t-shirt, snuck out of the locker room which is where everyone was, and walked out the other door of the gym. Some of the kids told me not to, but I didn't care, and why did they care anyway?**

**The light was still shining bright, as it was still morning, and I looked around, seeing nothing but the school, so I made my way cautiously around the side of the gym, and avoiding the sight of the teachers. I looked ahead and spotted a few figures fighting some huge robot. I couldn't help but ask myself, why was a giant snake-like robot out here? And who were those other people fighting it? It just wasn't natural. My eyes narrowed as I kept watching the three figures fighting the robot for the next few minutes.**

**Finally, one of those people was shot back onto the wall of the gym. I took cover from some of the metal debris that had flown toward me, but I was okay…for the moment. I looked back around the corner and noticed that one of the figures was actually a red echidna, knocked unconscious for the count. I blinked and then my eyes widened as the snake-robot had made its way through the other two people and slithered it's metal body toward the red echidna.**

**Taking a step back to keep the metal snake from spotting me, I was about to turn around to warn the other kids, but out of nowhere the metal tail of the snake wraps around me and lifts me up in the air in front of it. I screamed once and looked into the eyes of the beast. This robot was being manned by someone, but I couldn't recognize who. The man opened the hatch of the head of the snake and let out an evil snicker as his glasses shined in the light. My eyes widened as I saw who it was…even though it couldn't have been possible.**

**"Hehehe…well what do we have here? A scared little girl running for her life? How pathetic." The man said.**

**Well, also being me, I hated being called weak or pathetic, so I narrowed my eyes and let out a simple "hmph" at the man, still struggling to get free.**

**"What's the matter," He said as he brought me closer with the robot's tail, "afraid to say something to me? I know who you are girl…"**

**I looked at him with a questionable look. "How do you know me…you aren't even real!"**

**"Not real, eh? Well, see if this is real!" The man replied.**

**He pushes a button on the dash of the robot's head and the tail tosses me onto a small hill that led up to the school. I shouted in pain as I hit the bottom part of my back. Grunting and barely moving, just to try to get away. I couldn't bare the pain that was throbbing on my back, so I looked back to the man in the robot, with a terrified look on my face, which was sort of a first. He gave an evil laugh as he made his way closer to me with the metal snake. My eyes widened more as I could barely move due to the pain and all the fear. A human like me couldn't take on a big robot snake. I was helpless…**

**The tail of the robot wrapped around me again and picked me up. I tried to scream for help, but my voice had disappeared from the fear.**

**"There's nothing you can do now to save you're friends! Think of them all, shivering in fear inside that gym. I could just take down that gym…couldn't I?" He smirked and laughed again as he was about to sling me for the second time, which in fact, could have knocked me out or killed me.**

**I hung my head down for a sec, but then rose it back up, on account of hearing a voice from behind the robot, "Hold it Eggman!"**

**I looked up, seeing a figure, which was a blue hedgehog with green eyes jumping on top of the metal snake's head, glaring down at the man. Right then, someone else, as a red blur, nabbed me out of the clutches of the snake's tail and jumped away from them all. The red echidna looked to me and asked, "Kid, are you okay?"**

**I couldn't answer. My hand fell limp and I was out for the time being. The echidna growled.**

**"Hey, you get her out of here! We'll take care of Eggman!" Shouted another figure, who was a yellow fox, flying with his two special tails helping the hedgehog. The echidna nodded and jumped off toward the forest nearby, and he set me down gently underneath a tree. He wanted to go back and help defeat the man known as Eggman, but for some reason he didn't want to leave me sitting there. So he stood there, pacing back and forth waiting for me to wake up.**

**Meanwhile, the hedgehog and fox had defeated Eggman and destroyed his robot, sending him running for cover back to his base. The two got all the kids and teachers to safety and explained what had happened. It was quiet until one of the kids asked, "W-Where's Lauren?" The hedgehog, who's name was Sonic, looked to the kid fox, Tails and implied that the one that the echidna, Knuckles, had taken off somewhere, was me. Sonic and Tails told them I was fine and they left the rest to the police to set things straight.**


	2. Chapter 2

Lauren the Echidna Chapter 2

Is This Possible?

This can't be possible...I was just attacked by a killer snake robot and rescued by three human-like animals! How can this be possible? Seriously...you don't see this everyday, but why was it me? Even most of my friends are worried sick about me. And what's worse, they called my parents and told them what happened and now they're going crazy wondering where I am and how I'm doing and all that. But back to the story...

Sonic and Tails ran off to the forest in search for me and Knuckles. They zig-zagged through trees and jumped over rocks that were in the way, and they finally saw a glimpse of Knuckles as he was sitting in a tree. Knuckles looked to the side and saw Sonic running up and Tails flying. He jumped down from the branch he was sitting on.

"Did you get rid of Eggman?" Knuckles asked.

Sonic nodded and so did Tails. Tails then looks to me, and I'm still knocked out, and wonders,

"Is she okay, Knuckles?"

"I'm not sure yet, she's still out. Guess we'll have to take her somewhere safer than here." Replied Knuckles.

"Let's take her to Amy's house." Sonic suggested. They both nodded and Knuckles picked me up in his arms and ran off with Sonic and Tails close behind.

About ten minutes later, they arrived at a small house with a red roof and tan lining around the place. Apparently, this was Amy's house, so they ran up to the door and Sonic knocked. The door knob turned and Amy, a pink hedgehog with a red dress and red boots, opens the door and a smile appeared on her face at the sight of Sonic.

"Oh, Sonic! I'm so glad to see you're okay!" She quickly hugs him and kisses him on the cheek as he tried to pull away.

"Okay, Amy! Okay! Let me go!" She finally lets him go only to see me in Knuckles' arms. She blinked and looked at him curiously.

"Who is that, Knuckles?" She asked.

"We heard that her name is Lauren. She was almost killed by Eggman earlier...we were wondering if you we could keep her here for awhile until she wakes up?" Replied Tails.

Amy urged them inside and up the stairs to a bedroom, with a bed covered in yellow and pink sheets and a comforter. Knuckles puts me in the bed as Amy pulled the covers over me. Knuckles stared at me for a second, lost in thought. Sonic taps his shoulder and he looks at him. Knuckles told him there was nothing wrong. So Sonic, Tails, and Amy had walked out of the room while Knuckles stayed in the room waiting for me to awake.

About a half an hour passed and Knuckles was standing at the window staring out of it, until he heard a soft moan from me. He shifted his eyes back toward me as I began to sit up.

"Ungh...w-where am I..." I said as I looked around, then seeing Knuckles. I didn't say anything, I just stared at him for a second.

"Ok, I'm dreaming right...?" I wondered as I still stared at him.

"No, you're not dreaming, kid." He replied.

"But y-you can't be real...you guys are just cartoon characters..." I said shaking my head and throwing my feet on the side of the bed, looking at him with a confused look.

"Well, face facts," He said walking up to me, even though he was only looking at me eye to eye as I was sitting down, "this is the real deal, kid."

"If you haven't realized yet, I have a name." I said with a little glare.

"Yeah, I know. Lauren." He smirked with a small chuckle. I blushed a bit knowing that I couldn't come up with a good enough comeback, so I just looked away.

"Hmm...well, we should let everyone else know you're awake." Knuckles said as he walked to the bedroom door.

"Everyone else?" I wondered getting up and following him.

"Yeah. Now c'mon. I'll let Tails explain." He said opening the door, which led into the kitchen then the living room.

Everyone: Sonic, Tails, Amy, and now another character, Cream, who was a rabbit, and Cheese, who was a small, blue and yellow creature called a Chao, were sitting there in all the chairs and they all looked at me. Me, being a foot or two taller than Knuckles, stood there with my hands in my jean pockets and looked to them all. Sonic walked up to me and smiled his showoffy smile.

"So how ya feelin' Lauren? You took quite a fall." He asked.

"I uhh...I'm fine I guess. I'm just still shocked to see all of you for real." I stuttered.

"What do you mean 'for real'?" Asked Tails, who was sitting on the edge of the couch.

"Well, I kinda know about all the games people have released about you guys, and the tv show and everything...well yeah you get the idea. But it's just weird seeing all of you in real life." I replied.

"I think you're just a bit confused about how we got here. You should know," Tails said as I sat down in a chair beside Amy, "we got here by Chaos Control...again, since Eggman is, for some reason, unleashing some new evil on the world to establish his Eggman Empire."

"I know how you guys felt." I said sitting back in the chair.

As they continued to tell me the rest of the story, I told them my story of how my childhood was and all the same old stuff I told everyone when they asked where I came from. I started to bond with them, with a smile on my face, as I continued to talk with them. But later on, my cell phone, which was surprisingly still in my pocket, started to ring. I looked at the caller ID and noticed that it was my mom. Oh crap how am I going to explain this? Well, no choice but to answer it.

"Lauren? Lauren! Where are you? Are you okay?" Began the worried talk of any other mom on the planet.

"Mom...Mom! I'm fine will ya calm down? I'm fine I was just talking with someone." I replied as I stood outside the house.

Knuckles and the other peeked outside at me then went back to whatever they were doing in the house. I went back inside after finally telling my mom I was okay, and spoke to Sonic and the others for a few more minutes. Amy looked to me and insisted I stayed with her for the night, on account of Eggman may have been looking out for me, wanting revenge. So I agreed and stayed with her for the night as everyone else went back to their own homes.

The first day wasn't all bad, except for the fact of a giant snake robot attack, and me meeting these cartoon characters in real life, and yeah, I had a good start of my weekend, but the next day kinda turned out a bit bad.


	3. Chapter 3

Lauren the Echidna Chapter 3

Kidnapped

What the heck? How was I supposed to know I would get along great with Sonic and his friends? Anyway, Knuckles seemed to be the most polite of them all, even though I've seen his attitude from all the games and the TV show. Anyway…

Morning came and I opened my eyes and looked around only to see Cheese the little Chao floating in front of me with his small, pink wings flapping, he gave a smile to me and flew off to Cream and Amy, who were in the kitchen to tell them that I was awake. I laughed a bit and sat up, got out of bed and walked downstairs into the kitchen.

"Hi, Lauren. We made you breakfast." Said Cream with a big smile on her face.

"You did, huh? That's awesome, thanks!" I replied with a smile. They sat down with me at the table and we all ate our food. We also talked with each other about if I should be going back to my own home with Eggman still trailing them and me. I hesitated to answer at the time, because I knew I didn't want my parents to get hurt, even though they were splitting up.

I made my way outside and walked around the place where Amy lived, looking at the different buildings in the small village. I continued to walk, but was then caught by surprise by Sonic, who was on his morning run around the place. The wind was so fast, it blew my hair in my face and all over the place. I shook it off and placed my hair where it belonged and Sonic sped back to me.

"Hey there, Lauren! What's up?" He asked with a smile.

"Nothing really. I'm still thinking if I should go back home or not." I replied.

"Well, with Eggman around it's not safe for your parents to get sucked into all this. Maybe you should lay low with us for awhile longer?"

"No…I have to go back to my mom and show her that I'm okay. If not, she'll freak." I said stepping forward, but Sonic grabs my arm and stops me.

"Hold on a sec. – We'll go with you." Sonic smiled again.

I didn't reply, I just nodded and he grabs my arm, pulling me downward.

"Alright, hold on. We're going at sonic-speed!" He said. I held onto him and we were off in a supersonic second, leaving behind a blue streak. I held on as much as possible until we finally got to Tails' workshop which was deep in the forest. He let me go and I stood there a bit dizzy, since it was my first time being dragged over fifty miles at one hundred twenty miles an hour. Dang…I hope I get used to that. Tails opened the door to his workshop and saw Sonic standing there trying to snap me out of my dizzy state.

"Hey Sonic, hey Lauren." He smiled.

I finally shook of my dizziness and smiled, "Hey Tails."

"We need to use the Tornado. Lauren wants to go home for awhile." Said Sonic.

"But don't you think Eggman will catch us there? He knows Lauren will probably go back home soon." Tails replied.

"I know that Tails…but I have to show my mom I'm okay and maybe she'll back off for awhile…I hope." I said.

Tails nodded and brought me and Sonic inside his workshop. He showed us a big plane he had built on their planet. Four seats were built into it and it was white, red, and yellow. He called it the X Tornado. So me and Tails got into the front two seats while Sonic jumped up on the nose as I've seen him do before and we flew off in the plane.

A few minutes passed and we were finally flying over the small town that I lived in, and I pointed to where it would be okay to land. Tails landed the plane in a small field that was next to my house and it made the grass blow and the leaves on the trees blow off into the wind, but since it was winter there weren't many leaves that fell.

My mom was inside looking out the window to see what all the noise was. She spotted the plane and was about to freak until she saw me being helped out of the seat by Sonic and onto the ground. She ran out of the house and headed toward the field shouting my name. I looked toward her and smiled as I walked over to her. She grasped me in a big hug and I did it back to her and she was in tears, being happy to see me. My dad was also inside, talking with her but he had also ran outside with her and hugged me.

Sonic and Tails smiled as they looked at each other and then back at us. I pulled away from my parents, telling them over and over that I was alright. They finally backed down, thankfully, and began talking with me for a second. But that was when Mom finally realized that Sonic and Tails were standing there behind me.

"Lauren, aren't these two…" My mom began.

"Heh, yeah, it's true. It's hard to understand but they're really here. Right?" I looked at Sonic and Tails.

"We sure are!" Tails smiled and Sonic chuckled and smiled as well.

"We're glad you're okay, but we really need to get you inside, we have to-" My dad started.

"Hold on, dad. I can't stay here with you guys right now." I interrupted.

"Why not?"

"You're familiar with Dr. Eggman, right?" Asked Tails. My parents questioned themselves for a minute, and then told him yes.

"Well, when Lauren's school was attacked, we had to get her away from there, and for some reason she ended up staying with a friend of ours. So we need to keep her with us for awhile until we get Eggman off her trail." Sonic explained.

My parents looked at each other and then at me. I smiled at them with a smile that simply told them that I would be fine with these guys. They allowed me to stay with Sonic and the others. But before I walked away, my dad stopped me when he asked me one of the most embarrassing questions.

"Hey, where's that favorite character of yours? What's his name…Knuckles?"

My face turned completely red as he asked that question. I didn't want Sonic and the others to know that I had the cartoon-like crush on Knuckles, even though I knew he wasn't real, but now…oh crap. Sonic smiled and laughed a bit as he saw my face as red as an apple.

"Dad…that wasn't funny!" I glared at him, still blushing from the question. He laughed as well and I finally got back into the X Tornado and flew off with Tails and Sonic.

I sat in the back seat waving bye to my parents as I watched them go their separate ways, Mom into the house, and Dad back to his shop. Continuing to stare out the cockpit of the plane, I began to daydream. I couldn't believe I was in the X Tornado with these guys. But my dream suddenly vanished as an explosion was heard, chopping one of the four wings of the plane, which in turn, made us start to crash down to the ground. I shouted as well as Tails, while he was trying to maintain control of the plane from crashing too badly.

We finally hit the ground, smoke coming from the wing of the plane, and Tails, with his eyes shut tight, and Sonic, now on the ground looking around to where that blast came from. Tails looked back at me and noticed that I was still conscious, but not looking around.

"Lauren, you okay?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah…fine. I'm fine. Wonder who did that?" I replied looking up out of the cockpit, which Tails had just opened.

"I have a pretty good idea of who it might be." Said Sonic with a growl.

Out of nowhere, a giant figure dropped down on the X Tornado, stomping its foot on top of it attempting to crush it. We all looked up in shock as a wolf robot breaks another one of the wings clear off. Sonic quickly went into his spin-dash mode and launched toward the wolf and knocked it back onto its back. But it quickly gets back up and slashes its tail at us all, but luckily Sonic zooms by and gets me out of the way, while Tails flew upward dodging the attack. Sonic set me on the ground away from the robot, but it didn't give up. It starts to run toward Sonic and me at an incredible speed, but Sonic picks me up again and speeds off, trying to keep me from getting hurt, but was quickly swept away by the lashing of the wolf's tail, making me skid across the ground a few yards away, and trying to get back up.

"NO LAUREN!" Sonic shouted as he tried to speed back to me.

"Huh? AHH!" I screamed as the robot grabs me between its metal teeth, not crushing me, but hard enough to where I couldn't get away. Sonic tries to spin-dash the wolf again, but it just swats its robotic paw at Sonic and knocks him into a nearby tree, leaving him unconscious for the moment. The robot began to run away with me in its mouth.

"LAUREN!" Yelled Tails.

"TAILS!" I shouted back.

It was official, this was one of Eggman's robots that had come to kidnap me from Sonic and the others. I didn't know what Eggman really wanted with me, but I was to find out soon enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Lauren the Echidna Chapter 4

Transformation

Sonic finally woke up from being knocked out, and looked up to see Tails budging him a few times. He let out a groan and stood up, shaking his head from side to side.

"Ugh…I can't believe I let that scrap heap get Lauren…" Said Sonic looking down at the ground.

"It's not your fault, Sonic. Let's get Knuckles and go after her!" Suggested Tails, as he started to spin his two tails, flying in front of Sonic. Sonic nodded and they headed to Angel Island, which was hovering over the ocean as it would be any day.

Tails flew Sonic up to the island and they moved through the forests and up to the shrine of the Master Emerald, where Knuckles was asleep guarding the precious gem. They ran up to him, and he wakes up to the sound of their footsteps.

"What's wrong guys?" He asked, sitting up.

"Lauren's been kidnapped by one of Eggman's robots!" Said Tails with a frown on his face.

"What?!" Knuckles quickly stood up.

"We have to go now. C'mon!" Said Sonic running ahead of them. Sonic grabbed a hold of Tails hand and he flew off with him, with Knuckles gliding right behind them, off the island.

Meanwhile, in a base deep in the woods, the robot wolf had spit me out of its mouth and on the ground in front of it. I gasped in pain as I tried to sit up, still throbbing from the pain, but the wolf stomped down on my back with its metal paw, pinning me down and making me grunt in pain again. I couldn't move at all, I could only look up and see a figure walking up to me. I tried to struggle to get free but it was no use, the wolf had me down. The figure walks up to me and gives an evil glare down at me. He looked to be a black hedgehog, spines pointing upward, and red eyes. My eyes widened as I looked to him in horror.

"S-Shadow the Hedgehog…" I said quietly as he bent down to my face.

"Is this the girl, doctor?" He said with his low and soft voice.

Another figure, which turned out to be Eggman had come out as well and walked up to both of us. I was surprised to see Shadow here, but why would he be with Eggman? I grunted again as I continued to struggle.

"Don't waste your energy, kid. I have you down for the count. And now you will pay for getting in my way, and letting that blasted hedgehog overpower me." Said Eggman with an eerie smirk.

My eyes widened as he ordered Shadow to take me and put me into some kind of weird machine that was hooked up when I got there. Beeping was heard and light were shining from outside of it as I laid there trying to get back up. I finally got back up and stumbled to the door of the machine trying to open it. But Eggman shows a smirk and I noticed Shadow beginning to press a few buttons on the control panel. My eyes widened as I knew he was going to activate it and do something to me, so I tried to kick the door open, but since it was hard metal, I failed horribly.

"Now you'll know what it's like to be one of us, kid." Said Shadow pressing a button that finalized the machine to start working. I looked around to see that electricity was beginning to form around me. I shouted from the pain of the shock and continued to shout as my whole body began to glow white. Eggman let out an evil laugh as the machine finally finished what it was designed for.

Shadow stepped away. As Eggman walked up to the door and was about to open it, a voice was heard from the entrance to the base, which turned out to be Knuckles' voice.

"EGGMAN! LET HER GO!" He shouted as he punched Shadow away, then knocking Eggman to the side.

"UNH!" Shouted Shadow in pain, as he got back up and skated toward Knuckles, raising his hand to shoot a Chaos Spear attack at him. Knuckles dodged the attack and kicked Shadow into a wall. But Shadow wasn't done yet, he skates at a high speed throwing a punch and then a kick at Knuckles. Sonic took care of Eggman while Tails attempted to open the door to the machine that I was in.

Shadow throws a few more punches at Knuckles, but Knuckles quickly counters with an uppercut to Shadow's jaw. He shouted in pain and was knocked up into the ceiling of the base. Shadow fell back down and quickly shook it off, diving toward Knuckles, throwing a kick at Knuckles head, landing the kick and it throws Knuckles to the ground. He grunted and got back up, throwing yet another uppercut at Shadow, but he dodges.

Sonic quickly jumps into the battle between the two and spin-dashes into Shadow. Shadow shouted again and then skidded back a few yards. He growled, but then just disappears with Eggman close behind escaping from it all. Knuckles gasps and looks to the machine where I was still being held. He quickly runs up to it, which Tails was still trying to open the door.

"Apparently, there's some kind of code that can open this door. But I can't figure it out. I'll have to mess with it for a few more minutes…" Said Tails.

"We don't have time for this Tails, we have to get Lauren out of there!" Knuckles demanded as he raised his fist to punch the lock on the door. He lunges at the lock and it breaks into several pieces and the door opens.

They expected to see "me" in the machine, but they didn't see me, they saw something else. Long, yellow dreadlocks, three bangs hanging in front of my eyes, long tail, bent in two places, and big boxing gloves on my hands, with two spikes on each glove, along with the red and black t-shirt and blue jeans, and the red and white shoes on my feet. The other's eyes widened to see what I had become. I had become an echidna. Crazy, right? But I sat there, unconscious in the machine, as Sonic, Knuckles and Tails looked at each other in shock.

Knuckles shook off the surprise and got into the machine, picked me up in his arms again, and walked out. My hand, now in a boxing glove, fell limp again, and my bangs covered my eyes. Sonic nodded to them and they all fled the base, back to Amy's house.

So call me crazy but now I'm some kind of echidna just like Knuckles, and no one knows how to change me back except for either Eggman or Shadow, but they had no idea where they were so I was stuck being an echidna for awhile. That's nothing compared to my reaction when I woke to see what I had become.


	5. Chapter 5

Lauren the Echidna Chapter 5

Surprise

Knuckles, with me still in hand, and with the other two following close behind, finally arrived at Amy's house. Inside, Amy, Cream and Cheese were having lunch until Tails opens the door in a quick manner. Amy and Cream looked to them as the came in and their eyes widened. Amy didn't recognize who the yellow echidna was at first, so Cream asks,

"Who is that, Knuckles?"

"This...is Lauren..." Knuckles replied looking down a bit at me, still knocked out. Amy stood silent for a moment, but then looked at Cream and Cheese. They all had a worried look on their faces. After a few moments, they heard a small moan coming from me. My hand moved a bit and was about to open my eyes.

"Huh? She's waking up..." Said Knuckles as he walked over to the couch and setting me down, holding me up. I opened my eyes slowly, and the first vision I saw was Knuckles sitting beside me, still trying to hold me up. My eyes opened a bit more, and I looked at him, grunting a bit.

"Ugh...K...Knuckles...what happened..." I said putting my hand on my head.

Since he had no idea what to say at the moment, he looks to Sonic and he brings a small mirror to me and holds it up to me. I look up and look at the reflection, seeing a yellow echidna, bangs in face, and green eyes staring back at me. I quickly took the mirror and looked close. I blinked a few times then looked at my hands, they had become just like Knuckles'. Spiked on the pointer finger and pinkie knuckle, both wrapped in a boxing glove. A drop of cold sweat rolled down my face and I kept quiet for a second.

"Please...just tell me I'm dreaming now..." I shut my eyes tightly.

"Y...You're not dreaming, Lauren..." Replied Knuckles.

I almost was about to flip, but I just freaked out a bit. I stood up, almost falling back down, only to be caught by Knuckles again, and looked at the others. They kept quiet for a minute.

"Ok this is so NOT cool! This can't be real! I can't be an echidna! This is just a lie!!" I ran outside, with Knuckles following me.

"Lauren, wait!!" He shouted as we were now outside beside the house, grabbing my arm. I looked at him.

"Lauren, I know this is hard to believe...but this is all real." He looked at me still holding onto my arm. I looked away from him, and my eyes shifted to the ground.

"Lauren...?" He wondered, letting my arm go.

"...Why me..." I started.

"Hm?" He blinked.

"Why is it always when something bad happens...IT'S ALWAYS TO ME?!" I shouted as I looked to him with tears falling from my eyes, stepping back away from him.

"Hey...take it easy. Come back inside and we'll find out what to do." Said Knuckles.

I didn't know what to say. He wasn't supposed to be real. None of this was supposed to be real. But I had no choice, I had to trust them even though I really didn't inside. Knuckles pats me on the back and walks with me back inside. The others walked up to me, now that I was the same height as they were, wondering if I was alright. I told them yes and they began to talk to me in the living room. Sonic had ran outside running around like he usually does, thinking to himself. After awhile, everyone understood exactly how I was. I know I didn't want to tell them of my personal emotions or anything like that, but something was telling me that it was okay. I had a smile on my face as I continued my day, living out the life of an echidna.

"Don't worry, Lauren, we'll figure out a way to get you back to normal soon." Tails smiled.

I nodded, "Thanks you guys..." With a smile.

Besides the fact that I was still freaking out about becoming an echidna, I was happy to be hanging out with Knuckles and the others. But I had this weird feeling in my stomach...that something was about to go wrong...


	6. Chapter 6

LAUREN THE ECHIDNA CHAPTER 6:

REACTION AND EXPLANATION

The next day wasn't all that bad; I started getting used to being like Sonic and the others, especially like Knuckles, since he and I were both echidnas. I asked Knuckles why I had the spikes on my fists like he did and not normal hands like they would've expected, and he just shrugged. Probably the fact that he was my favorite character when I was still human, but I didn't tell him that. So during that day Knuckles taught me all he knew about martial arts. I had already learned some Jiu-Jitsu at school so he was impressed, but he continued to teach me the rest of the stuff he knew. Later that day, I had learned all different kinds of martial arts, thanks to Knuckles.

But it didn't end there. I get a call on my cell phone from my mom again, wondering how I was doing. I told her I was doing okay, but she continued to worry, even though she knew I was with Knuckles and the others. I kept talking to her until she asked me something,

"Do you think…you could come home for awhile?" She asked.

"Uhh…m-mom you know I can't risk your life if I'm around, right?" I stuttered.

"Yeah I just want to see you for a little bit. Then you can go back with your friends. Now come on home." She said as she hung up. I didn't get to answer back to her in time though.

"Oy…now what am I supposed to do…" I asked myself. But then Sonic zooms by at the exact time I hung up and he stops in front of me and blinks.

"What's up, Lauren?" He asked.

"This could be bad Sonic…"

"What?"

"My mom just called and wants me to come home for awhile…"

"Didn't you tell her you can't? With Eggman around we-" He began.

"I know Sonic. I told her but she just hung up. If I don't come she'll just call again and keep telling me to come home." I said putting the cell phone back in my pocket.

"Oh." Sonic replied.

"And how am I supposed to explain to her how I became an echidna? She'll freak!" I said.

"Hey take it easy. We'll come with ya and explain it to her." Sonic smiled.

"This is going to be really weird…" I said with a sigh.

So yeah, we got everything ready to go in Tails' X Tornado. Knuckles had tagged along as well since he was one of the guys that had to explain, and later we finally in the field next to my house. I was very nervous to find out what my mom's reaction was going to be when she saw me like I am. Mom, hearing the roaring of the engine and it landing near the house; she walks outside and was hoping to see me to be helped out from the plane again. Tails looks to her and smiles, but she looks to where I was jumping out this time, but didn't see me, but the yellow echidna. She looks at us curiously and asked,

"W-Where's Lauren…?" She said standing beside Tails.

Sonic and Knuckles looked at me and I nodded. My mom asked them the same question. I stepped up to her.

"Mom…I'm right here."

Her eyes widened a bit and she was lost for words.

"H-How can you be Lauren? You're an animal...that's not possible." She said. I looked at her again with my green eyes and blinked. She looks into my eyes and realizes that it was really me. She smiled and kneels down to my height, which was odd, because when I was human I was taller than she was by an inch or two. I smiled back at her.

"It's really me, mom." I said. So for a few more minutes I talked with her, then Sonic and the others explained how I became the echidna I am now, and how they would figure out a way to turn me back. Of course, mom being herself, she calls my dad down there just to see me. Since business was slow at the shop, he walks down the yard to where the plane was and sees Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, my mom, and me standing there as well. He sees me as the echidna and just shrugs.

"I can tell she's an animal, Elaine. - But why did you turn into one?" My dad asked.

"Long story short…Dr. Eggman turned me into this." I replied.

"Lauren we should get back to the workshop. I have something to show you." Suggested Tails.

"Huh? Oh okay. Let's go then." So I said goodbye to my parents again and we all got in the X Tornado and flew off. Once again, I watched as my parents walked their separate ways back home and to the shop. I sighed as I sat in the back seat with Knuckles in the seat behind me. He looked toward me curiously.

"What's been going on with your parents?"

"I don't know, Knuckles…they've just been drifting apart…it's like my family is just failing miserably…" I replied sighing again and looking down toward the house as it was moving out of sight.

"Have they tried talking to each other?" Knuckles wondered.

"Heh…I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. My mom keeps saying that she wants dad to talk to her, but dad just doesn't want to do it…" I replied.

"I'm really sorry about that, Lauren…" Said Tails with a sad look on his face.

"It's for the best Tails…now I won't have to be yelled at everyday." I replied looking out of the cockpit at the sky.

Being Sonic, he was riding on the nose of the plane, but he made his way next to the window where I was and asked,

"You get yelled at a lot?"

"That's how it used to be. Every time I did one little thing, she would get onto me about it…and my grades in school had dropped the past few years ever since I started high school." I said.

"You're a senior this year aren't you?" Asked Knuckles.

"Yeah. And the thing is…my grades are better than any of my past years in school. Maybe it's because I'm not all stressed out from the yelling."

We continued to talk as we arrived at Tails' workshop. I jumped out of the plane and followed Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails inside. Tails pushed a few buttons on his computer and one of the walls of the workshop began to open.

"Whoa…" I blinked as I saw an array of weapons lined up against the wall.

"Now that you're one of us, you get to choose your own weapon. Sonic and Knuckles already have their own items." Said Tails with a smile.

I looked at Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic pointed to his red sneakers with a white stripe and a yellow buckle on the side, telling me that those were his running sneakers, able to grip the ground better than any other shoe while running, plus they don't wear out. Knuckles smirked as he pointed to his spiked knuckles, but he also pulled out to claw-like metal gloves known as the Shovel Claws. With them, he was able to dig into any known material on earth. I smiled as I looked to the wall at the various weapons. There were a few swords here and there, but the one weapon I saw that intrigued me was a black staff hanging on two knobs of the wall. I went and picked it off the wall and took a good look at it. With a smile on my face, I set one end of it on the ground, holding it upright.

"So you like that one Lauren?" Tails asked.

"Sure do. Thanks Tails." I smiled.

Bet you didn't think I knew how to handle a staff did you? Heh, it's one of my favorite weapons of all time. Later, I began to train by myself with that staff, hitting it against trees and rocks, furthering my skills. I was enjoying my time as an echidna while I had the chance…before what happened later that day…


	7. Chapter 7

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter Seven

Mephiles' Revenge Part 1

Like I said, later that day was okay. I remained outside furthering my skills with my new staff and of course, my martial arts skills. I shifted my foot position to the front of me, gripping the staff for one final swing. The staff was raised by my right hand, looking to be horizontal in my sight. I then grabbed it with my left hand and prepared for the attack. But what I didn't know was that a certain someone was watching me the entire time, sitting on a branch near the top of a tree. I got into an offensive pose, and like a swift, yellow blur, I charged at a tree and swung my staff with amazing speed and force. Apparently, the strong force of the attack was too great, thus it sliced the tree trunk in half. My eyes blinked and widened to what I just did, but I was in too much awe as to not noticing that the tree was falling down right toward me. I finally realized it and gasped, but I had no time to get away from it.

Instead of being almost crushed, a red streak came by and pushed me out of the way, only to find himself getting pinned underneath the tree. I shouted in surprise as I hit the ground. My eyes opened and I looked up after covering myself from the dust and leaves that were scattered as the tree fell, then they widened to see who it was that had been pinned.

"Knuckles!!" I shouted as I quickly got up and ran over to him.

I tried to lift up the tree off of him, but I wasn't strong enough to do so. My hand slipped off the tree trunk and I blinked. I kneeled down to him and a drop of sweat fell down my face. I was stuttering on what I was trying to say, but kept trying to pull the tree off, having no luck still. Knuckles then grunted as he woke up from being knocked out for a second and I looked to him.

"Knuckles...a-are you okay? I didn't mean to...I..." I continued to stutter.

"L-Lauren...take it easy. I'm okay, just give me a sec." The force from the fall of the tree had been a bit too much for the once tough Knuckles the Echidna, but I had thought he could take pain such as this. He had closed his eyes again, passing out for some strange reason. I nudged him, attempting to wake him up, but he didn't.

"Oh man...I gotta get him out from under there...but I'm not strong enough..." I looked down a bit. I didn't know what else to do at the time, everyone else had gone off somewhere to search for the Chaos Emeralds, which is what they told me. As soon as I looked down, a felt a hand grab me by the neck from behind. I gasped and grabbed a hold of the hand, trying to pull it off. Then, a voice with a low tone started to speak...

"Do not move young echidna...if you do I'll end you right here..."

"...! I know that voice anywhere..." I said with a gasp.

"You should know not to speak when I told you not to girl..." The black hedgehog growled. I couldn't help but shift my eyes back to see the black hedgehog with blue stripes instead of red like Shadow glaring at me with his cold, green, eerie eyes with slits.

"M...Mephiles?!" I knew this was trouble. Out of all the things that Mephiles had put everyone through, he had something up his sleeve for me. I still tried to pull his hand off, but he just squeezed tighter and threw me into a tree behind him.

"Agh!! Ugh..." I grunted as I hit the ground face down.

"So you are the human that was transformed...Lauren Berry..." Mephiles smirked walking up to me again.

"Ugh..." I pushed myself up and looked up at Mephiles, who was now holding his hand up to my face. My eyes widened and I gasped.

I was way too shocked and scared to even move away from Mephiles. He smirked and his hand glowed a faint blue color.

"Maybe I should just get rid of you here and now...or..." He began pointing his hand toward the KOed Knuckles.

"No...no if you hurt him I swear I'll--" But before I could finish, I felt a fist jab into my stomach. I gagged and spit up a bit, then suddenly noticed my vision started to get blurry. I lowered my head and my sight went completely black, passing out and falling to the ground.

"Hmph...you got guts kid. Too bad you won't need them..." Mephiles smirked and he picks me up, throwing me over his back, then walking off and disappearing.

Knuckles had woken up again after a few minutes and looked upward, noticing that I was gone. His eyes widened but growled, still realizing that he was pinned down. He couldn't figure out why he couldn't just lift the tree off. Knuckles grunted but had no luck.

Luckily, Sonic and Tails happened to be flying by in the newest version of Tails' plane, the Tornado. Sonic looked down and noticed one of the trees had fallen but then noticed that Knuckles was still struggling to get out from underneath it. Tails looked down as well.

"Land down there Tails!" Sonic pointed to an open clearing.

"Right!" Tails drove the plane down to the clearing and landed. Sonic then jumped down and ran over to Knuckles.

"Yo, Knux! You alright?!" Sonic asked.

"If I was any better Sonic, I wouldn't be under here." Knuckles scoffed.

"Geez..fine." Sonic replied. He then spun into a chainsaw-like ball and buzzed up through the tree, letting Knuckles get up. Tails flew over to them and helped Knuckles up. Knuckles nodded to Tails and brushed himself off.

"So how come you couldn't just throw that tree off? What happened?" Tails asked.

"That doesn't matter right now..." Knuckles replied.

"Hm?" Sonic looked around. "Where's Lauren?"

Knuckles looked down and clenched his fists. "She's...gone..."

Sonic and Tails' eyes widened.

"What do you mean she's gone??" Wondered Tails with a concerned look on his face.

Knuckles didn't answer, he just looked down more. "I can't believe I let her be kidnapped..." He clenched his fists more.

"We can't just stand here...we need to find her!" Suggested Sonic jumping back onto the Tornado.

Knuckles and Tails nodded. Tails flew into the cockpit and began to start up the Tornado. Knuckles jumped up beside Sonic and waited for Tails to take off.

I didn't know what Mephiles really wanted with me...but it wasn't good...


	8. Chapter 8

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 8

Is Fear Really This Bad?

"Hmhmhm..." Snickered Mephiles as he threw me into a steel-barred cage that was unable for me to open, aside from all that strength I had inside me. Mephiles turned to leave, leaving behind a few blue flames that came off of his quills, flickering as they disappeared. He again, snickered and began to laugh even more, knowing that it was the end of me, but what he didn't know was that there was a certain red spark inside of my body that was slowly building inside, like a newly sparked fire.

I began to open my eyes barely after about another hour of being knocked out. I grunted and looked around as I pushed myself up. There was...nothing around me...nothing but the dull and grey walls that surrounded the cage, but my attention then turned to the steel bars and I blinked. My feet rose up to the ground and I stood up, brushing off my shirt and pants from the faint dust in the cage. There was a cold and eerie soft wind blowing that sent a bit of a chill down my spine. I shivered and looked around the corner of the cage to see if there was anyone around. Again, that cold chill made it's way down my back and my eyes widened to see that black figure of Mephiles standing at a computer aways from the cage. A drop of sweat fell down the side of my face and my teeth clenched. I refused to say anything to keep his attention from getting to me, but as I motioned around the corner more, that still quiet movement was still loud enough for Mephiles to hear. His ears twitched and he slowly turns his attention back to where I was. I quickly whipped around to the wall, hoping he didn't see me.

Everything was quiet...I couldn't hear him walking anywhere, or even saying anything. So, with my curiosity, I looked back around the corner again, but this time, that evil incarnation, Mephiles was actually right there in front of my face, except for the steel bars in between. My eyes widened more and I gasped. Mephiles narrowed his eyes and just glared at me, then snickered. I jumped to seeing him right there in my face, then crawled backward away from him. I never felt this much fear in one character...I always knew Mephiles was an evil apparition no matter what...and the fact that Sonic and the others had defeated him...but, this much fear? I couldn't stand it. I continued to back up until I hit the wall behind me, grunting a bit from Mephiles' attack on my stomach still lingering.

"So...tell me girl...how do you plan on staying alive?" He laughed evilly again, then suddenly faded through the bars and walked up to me, that same dark aura surrounding him. His right hand started to become crystalline, the one power that made him almost unstoppable. My eyes grew wider as I shivered, watching him as he kneeled down to me. Being me with someone this evil made me swing my hand at Mephiles to smack, but he grabbed it with his right hand, covered in crystals and made those blue crystals surround my arm. I yerked, but his glare made me freeze in place, my eyes meeting with his light green, slit eyes.

"G....Get...Get a-way...from...m-me...." I haven't stuttered this bad for years. I never knew this kind of fear actually existed in this world. But now that I think about it...it does exist. It's like something inside me is telling me to run...but my entire body was frozen stiff from Mephiles' evil stare.

"I see we have resistance...we may have to fix that...hmhmhm..." He narrowed his eyes and the crystals from his hand began to seep into a cut I had received earlier in my training on my arm and I grunted in pain.

"Aaahh...w-what...a-are you...d-doing...AAH!!!" I shouted again as the pain was too much for me to bear at the moment. My hand fell limp and Mephiles let go of my hand. This fear...I couldn't do anything about it. My eyes turned into a solid light green color, no highlights in them or anything. I stared at the ground as if in a trance. Mephiles stood up in his normal slumped over stance and started to laugh once again, this time from quiet, then louder, then louder for almost the entire world to hear and tremble in this kind of fear.

Knuckles' eyes widened as he heard this particular laugh and he gasped a small gasp. Sonic looked back to him and blinked...

"Yo, Knuckles! You okay back there?" Sonic wondered.

"She's near...." Knuckles replied with a drop of sweat going down his face. "...And he has her in his grasp..." He paused.

This wasn't as good as I thought it would be...Mephiles has done something to me that's indescribable to anyone...and who knows what will happen to me...


	9. Chapter 9

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 9

Mephiles' Revenge Part 2 - True Power Within

"W-What........h..have....y..you....done....." I continued to stutter as those poison bound crystals seeped into my blood stream. Mephiles really went into the shallow end this time, poisoning me just to get revenge on what Sonic and the others did to him in those previous fights with him and Solaris. Mephiles steadily slowed his laugh down and glared down to me, again with a small evil chuckle.

"Hmhmhm...You are the one who will help me bring back Solaris and it's extreme power. Don't think I'm going to make it stop." He grabbed me by the throat again and lifted me up. I gagged and gasped because of the poison quickly moving through my body. I shook and stuttered even more, since this was the first time that I was injected with this type of dark poison from anyone. I couldn't help but struggle and grab onto his hand as he lifted me. Mephiles then grabbed tighter, laughing a bit more, but as he was about to raise his other crystalline hand up to me, a deaf defying explosion came from the entrance to Mephiles' so-called "lair."

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER MEPHILES!!" Yelled a very familiar low toned voice. It was that very echidna that saved me those two times before...Knuckles. Mephiles noticed this and quickly dropped me, and I landed on the ground face down, unable to move still. Knuckles was surprisingly different this time. His glare was almost as if he was going to kill Mephiles and throw him into oblivion, but that didn't scare Mephiles one bit. He just laughed again and fazed through the bars of the cage toward where Knuckles had broken in. Knuckles stood his ground and growled.

"I won't warn you again Mephiles...let her go or you'll have to deal with my foot kicking your ass." Hearing this from Knuckles' mouth was a big surprise. He wasn't all the smack talk kind of guy before, but seeing me in this much trouble somehow made the guilt and anger inside him rise and made him like this. I slowly and with struggle, rose my head up to look at Knuckles. I grunted and my eyes still stayed the same solid green color. Mephiles laughed once again and raised his hand up to Knuckles preparing for an attack.

"You think you scare me, Knuckles? I have the power I need to restore Solaris and you will not stop me..." Mephiles' quills and entire body began to turn blue, small blue flames coming off of him once again. His hands turned to claws, but this time blue with a bit of the purple poison crystals surrounding it. He was now in his final form, his stripes on his quills had turned into crystals as well as the rest of his body. Those eerie green eyes were still the same, but the outside of them had turned completely red. His muzzle turning a faint light blue, as if turning into ice, but with a purple tint. The shocking part of this was that he grew a mouth and fangs on his muzzle, then it gave him the ability to give just a simple smirk and then suddenly appeared behind Knuckles in a blue flash.

"What the?!" Knuckles shouted as he turned around, only to have a fist lunged into his face by Mephiles, and shot across the ground against the wall next to my cage. "UGH!!" He shouted in pain, holding his face in pain, realizing that there was a bit of purple aura coming from his face. He knew there was some crystalline poison waiting to seep into his body and to slow him down. It didn't stop Knuckles...he rose to his feet with a struggle and then glared at Mephiles with even more hate. Knuckles charged at Mephiles and lunged his fist and then another lunge at him, but each time it was missed, seeing that the crystalline hedgehog was nothing but a mere apparition, the attacks fazing right through him with no problem. Knuckles' eyes widened and a kick to his back was felt, throwing him to the other wall on the other side of the base. Knuckles had been defeated at first, but he continued to get right back up, even if that poison was affecting him as well.

My eyes had widened in fear as I watched Knuckles get beat down this easily. I was surprised as to him getting right back up...but nothing like this. He was coming back, hit after hit, he still wouldn't give up, unitl he was beat down for the final time. Knuckles laid there face down, his hands covering his face from my view. A grunt was heard from his mouth and he began to push himself back up again.

"Kn...Knuckles....n..no...s-stop...." I started to say until my vision became blurry, not able to see where Knuckles or Mephiles was. I blinked a few times to make it stop, but the third time I blinked, everything got dark. My vision was gone...I couldn't see anything now. But I was still conscious, but how? If I was considered blind at the moment...how was I still awake? It was odd, but I grunted in pain and actually started to get up onto my feet. Mephiles heard this grunt and turned around to look at me. His eyes narrowed as he noticed a faint red aura surrounding my entire body. Knuckles had looked to me as well, with one eye closed from all the pain he endured. My yellow dreadlocks were suddenly floating in the air a bit and my eyes were completely black colored. Not a trace of the green color or anything.

"Mephiles...you're reign of terror ends here..." I said with a whisper, then lunging my spiked covered fist at the steel bars, shattering them with ease. Mephiles blinked then his eyes widened in shock.

"How the...how can you have that aura?" He said as he turned his body toward me. That apparently gave Knuckles the opportunity to attack, so he jumps up at Mephiles and punches at him, except that Mephiles was still stronger than him. His elbow met with Knuckles' stomach and Knuckles gagged, spitting up with what looked like blood this time. Mephiles then just let him fall to the ground. Knuckles grunted and hit his knees, falling completely to the ground and passing out.

"Knuckles..." My eyes narrowed and I glared even more at Mephiles. "You've really done it now..." Appearing as a yellow blur to him, I sprinted across the base and rammed into Mephiles like there was nothing to it. Mephiles yerked and then flipped to the wall, springing off of the wall and back at me. My hand raised and I just smacked across Mephiles' face and knocking him almost through the wall by a few feet. I smirked and looked back at him.

"Looks like I got my swing after all." I chuckled in an evil way then turned to Mephiles again, appearing in front of him and grabbing him by the throat. Mephiles gagged and attempted to get away by clawing at my face, but I grabbed his hand and twisted it all the way around. He shouted and then grunted in pain.

"I don't want to see you anywhere near here...again. Cuz if I do...you'll be surely sent into oblivion." I dropped him and he quickly faded away. He knew he had been defeated. I then looked back at Knuckles and made my way to him, but before I could, I suddenly hit my knees and then to the ground, the red aura disappearing and then passing out myself. Luckily, Sonic and Tails landed the plane where they had to find Knuckles from earlier ditching them in order to find me. Sonic jumped off the nose of the plane and spotted both me and Knuckles laying on the ground, unconscious. Sonic sped up to Knuckles and budged him, but no response. He picked Knuckles up over his shoulders and carried him to the Tornado. Tails had flew over to me and did the same, then carried me over to the plane as well.

"Ready Tails? Let's get these two back home." Suggested Sonic as he jumped into the seat behind the pilot.

"Ready!" Tails replied, starting up the plane and then soon taking off at a high speed away from the base.

"Do you think they got rid of Mephiles?" Said Sonic in a soft tone as he watched the base get farther and farther out of sight.

"I sure hope so..." Replied Tails doing the same, but also looking where he was going.

Knuckles and I stayed out for quite awhile. Try at least an entire day. Yeah, a pretty tough battle it was, but still, we didn't really know if we had gotten rid of Mephiles for sure. The day had ended finally, and I was showing traces of waking up...


	10. Chapter 10

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 10

A Love That Will Never Be

My eyes began to flutter open, as their original color green with highlight and big pupils had come back. The only one standing over me at the time was of course, the one person who could come back into consciousness faster than anyone, was Sonic the Hedgehog. He smiled as he looked to me, then chuckled his normal chuckle.

"Hehe, bout time you woke up, Lauren. You feelin' alright?" He asked.

"Ngh..." I began to grunt as I pushed myself up, sitting upright on the bed I was on. "Y-Yeah...I think so...w..what happened..." Sonic just looked over to Knuckles, who was also awake but sitting in a chair aways from the bed, just with his eyes closed, taking a short nap waiting for me to wake up. I looked at him as well and just blinked. "H..How is he...?" I asked with concern.

"He's fine. Just asleep...the lazy bum he always is." But before Sonic could say another smart remark, Knuckles eyes opened and he gave a somewhat glare at him, knowing he could take the insults from Sonic's mouth. Sonic chuckled and just ran out the door with his supersonic speed.

"Kn...Knuckles..are you okay?" I asked again. He stood up and walked over to me, helping me up as I turned to get up out of bed. I grunted in pain again, as I was still a bit weak from what I had done.

"You really should stay in bed a bit longer...you're in no shape to move around." Knuckles suggested as he held onto my arm, and me holding onto his shoulder, keeping myself up.

"Heh...you really don't know me. I don't give up that easily...I can handle myself..." I replied to him. For some reason, Knuckles didn't take it too lightly, it's like his mood kept changing every time I came in contact with him. He slightly pushed on my shoulder, wanting me to sit back down on the bed. I sat down, then looked up to him.

"I told you...you need to rest more, kid." Wow...he hasn't called me kid since he first saved me when I was in my human form. I knew he was upset about something...so I, with a bit of shyness in my voice, asked,

"Knuckles....is there...something wrong?" I hesitantly looked up to his purple eyes again, but then back to the floor where he was standing in front of me. He didn't answer at first, but just hung his head down and started heading out of the room. I blinked and looked back up to him, watching as he walked away. Was it something that I said? Or was it something else? I didn't really know...but I had to find out. After all, he's the one who first saved me, so I decided to return the favor. I got up again, holding myself up against the wall and stumbled to the door of the room, trying to catch up. As soon as I walked into the living room, I spotted Amy and Cream there at the door, seeming to be watching something. Amy shifted her eyes to the side and spotted me.

"Oh...Lauren! You're okay!" Amy, followed by Cream and Cheese, ran up to me and gently hugged me, knowing that I was still a bit shaken up by what had happened. I hugged Amy back and smiled at her. "I can't believe what happened, you took care of Mephiles with no problem! Are you sure you're alright?" Amy's green eyes blinked as she let me go, with concern as any friend would be. Cream smiled and hugged me happily as well as Cheese, and of course, I hugged back. I never felt so...cared for in this time and place. My parents of course would be this way but...my friends? I thought this was a dream, but I was too awake for it to be a dream. Cream then let go, slowly pulling Cheese off of me, which made me smile a bit more, and almost completely forgetting that I was on my way to chase after Knuckles.

"Hey...do you guys know what's wrong with Knuckles...?" I asked with a bit of concern. Amy looked to Cream and had a worried look on her face for some reason, but looked back to me and shrugged.

"I'm not sure, Lauren. Maybe you should talk to him?" She wondered. Honestly, I tried that but it didn't exactly work. So I motioned my way over to the door that led to outside and opened it up, then walking out into the starry, moonlit night sky. I looked up and smiled, staring at the moon, remembering how Astronomy was my favorite subject in school. Learning about all the stars and planets...and how they're are now planets in different dimensions...like the one that Sonic and his friends are from. I looked around for Knuckles and soon spotted him sitting in a tree far from the house, him too looking up at the sky. My yellow dreadlocks floated in the soft wind as I made my way over to the tree he was in. Since he was surrounded by a few branches and leaves, he couldn't see me coming up to him, but the sound of cracking leaves and broken off branches grabbed his attention as he looked down.

I kept walking until I was in his sights. He suddenly smiled, seeing that I was well enough to be walking around, as if his heart suddenly filled with some kind of warm mist, seeping around his system. Somehow, I felt the same thing as he jumped down to me and asking if I was alright. He smiled again and looked up at the sky, with a small chuckle.

"It sure is a nice night huh?" I asked as I set my sights on the moon as well.

"Yeah, sure is." He nodded and folded his arms as he would normally do. Everything got a bit quiet, only the soft wind blowing through both our dreadlocks was able to be heard. I folded my arms behind my back and sighed, feeling something inside me that just had to come out...so I turned my attention to Knuckles, who was still looking up through the leaves up at the moon.

"Um...Knuckles...?" I started, but this time with a faint red blush filling up my cheeks. He glanced at me and blinked.

"What is it?"

"There's...something I've been wanting..to um..tell you..." I kept on, still blushing.

"Hm?" He blinked again.

"Over the years that I've known about you guys in the games and comics...I never knew that I would meet you all in real life...and...for sometime now..I..." I started to stutter, since this was NOT my best kind of conversation. Knuckles turned his full attention to me and "hm"ed again. I knew I couldn't hold it in any longer...


	11. Chapter 11

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 11

Blazing Overload

As said before, I began to stutter because of my extreme shyness when around someone I...well kind of like in a way. I still felt uncomfortable with what I was about to say since Knuckles wasn't really real, but I just had to say it now that I was there in real life with him. As I opened my mouth to say this comment, a sudden burst of fire was soon shot past us. I yerked at the sight, trying to move but the fire had singed my right arm, leaving smoke coming off of it, and I shouted in even more pain. I fell backward and Knuckles caught me from losing my balance.

"Ngh...oh my God...oh my God...ngh..." I kept grunting, holding onto my arm, and Knuckles suddenly began to growl, a glare turned to a figure in the distance, facing us with red eyes, but entire body covered in a weird black substance. My face was almost completely buried in Knuckles arms as he still held onto me in protection.

"Who are you..." Knuckles inquired, narrowing his eyes. The figure didn't reply, they just launched another firey blast at us, but was quickly dodged when Knuckles picked me up and jumped up into a tree.

"Ngh..." I grunted again and let my arm fall limp, then glared at the figure. "I think he asked you a question, dude! Who are you?!" Attempting to raise my arm again, but obviously, I couldn't move it, I grunted and felt a drop of sweat roll down my face. Who was this guy? And what did he have against us?

The figure began to walk toward us, but Knuckles and I jumped down from the tree and got ready for battle. I knew I was able to fight, in a way, but with my arm halfway singed, I didn't know what my limit was. Their visuality was getting even more clear as they got closer, still chargin up a few pyro-like blasts, and we soon realized who it was that was attacking us. Those same blue striped quills were now dark red spiked ended crystals, even sharper than before. Those same claws on their hands were now sharper, but now were ablaze with fire, also showing a few dark red markings on their arms. Same with the legs but their shoes were made out of pure fire, and with every step, left a bit of fire, that slowly spread around the figure. Right then...I knew who it was...

"Mephiles?!" I gasped as I stepped back. "But...I..I thought you were done for..."

"If I am done for...why do you think I am standing here...hmhmhm..." His evil glare was even more freezing than before, but this time with a firey hot pierce right through my mind. My eyes wideded, as that same fear had come back to me like before. This new form of his...looked as if it was just made of the purest of fire and lava from a volcano. His body glowed with that fire and a pool of lava started to form around his feet, setting things nearby ablaze with fire. Knuckles and I were definitely surrounded by the fire, the sparks flying off the trees and from Mephiles' body. I glared at him again, finally shaking off the fear and ran at him full speed.

"LAUREN WAIT!" Knuckles shouted, but was too late, Mephiles' hand had already swept across my face, leaving both a burnt mark and a cut from those sharp claws. I didn't shout in pain, much as rather just a grunt, but my eyes had grown wide from the immense speed in the swing of his arm. I hit the ground, but nearly hitting the small pool of lava around Mephiles. Struggling, I got up and moved away from the lava and yerked to the pain from my cheek and arm. But it wansn't long, not but a millisecond, Mephiles grabbed my injured arm and lifted me up, still making that fire burn it even worse. I shouted in even more agony and tried to pull away, but was no luck. My shouts got even louder. Knuckles sped toward Mephiles at a high speed and threw a punch across his face, making him skid back, and dropping me as well. Knuckles budged me and helped me up from the attack.

"Cmon Lauren, you gotta stay awake!" He shouted then glaring at Mephiles again. "You're dead meat Mephiles...GAH!" As he said what he was going to say, another blast of fire was shot at him from Mephiles' firey, yet bloodshot hands. I shouted Knuckles' name and then got up again.

"You....Mephiles...I'm gonna--" Once again Mephiles punches me in the stomach, then tossed me on top of Knuckles with even more speed, as if his speed got greater with every attack he landed on us. We couldn't match his power...we could only sit there helpless as he leaned over top of me, reaching his hand out to my throat again. I looked up in fear, my eyes barely open...if that hand touched me again...I knew it would be the end...


	12. Chapter 12

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 12

Spark Of Courage

Knuckles and I laid there on top of each other, awaiting our soon demise from Mephiles' evil reign. Mephiles kept walking toward us and let out a simple smirk from his newly grown mouth and an evil chuckle, feeling those "flames of disaster" coming off of his quills, floating upward past the firey trees and up to the night sky. I couldn't help but start thinking about if this was my last chance to stay alive, to live out my life of being the artist I wanted to be...but now? Why now? I didn't want to die...my eyes started to fill up with tears and I stood to my feet, now giving Mephiles the most evil glare I could conjure up. Knuckles had woke up as well, also standing up next to me. I knew what I had to do to defeat him, but at the moment was not the best time, since Mephiles was beginning to bring back the recently deceased Solaris. I felt that burn on my arm getting a bit worse from the immense heat around me, so with a grunt, I raised my singed arm up to Mephiles, barely pointing to him because of the boxing gloves on my hands.

"Mephiles...you will not...end me here...I've been through way too much already...and I don't plan to die YET!" Knuckles knew what I was saying, thinking to himself that he didn't want to die either, but had got this smirk on his face and stood next to me. I glanced at his expression which was a heroic smirk and that glare in his purple eyes showed me that he meant business. Knuckles places his hand on mine and pushed it down, then snickered.

"And if you at all, harm her...you'll be dealing with me." He smirked with much confidence, which also made a big smile appear on my face. But Mephiles didn't take this sudden sappy moment lightly. He just growled, realizing that we had this spark of courage inside both of us, waiting to just explode. Mephiles growled more and shouted in anger, shooting another blast of fire at us, but this time, along with that same poison from before. Another second had passed, and there was nothing but a small crater from where he blasted us...but no sign of me or Knuckles. Mephiles looked around frantically, but felt a tap on his shoulder by me. As soon as his attention turned around, two fists had punched him square in the face, knocking him into a few trees, knocking them down on top of him. Both Knuckles and I then ran toward that pile of trees, but Mephiles had already singed them all to nothing but a crisp and sprung off of them, flying at us at a speed that was even greater than that of Sonic.

Knuckles and I just smirked and we jumped to opposite sides, dodging Mephiles' attack. Though he wasn't done yet. Making another spring off of a nearby boulder, he rammed his fist into mine and Knuckles' back, knocking us away a bit, but we both recovered with a back flip. I panted and held onto my arm again, but then spotted another smirk from Knuckles. He quickly ran over to me and whispered something to me, saying he had a plan. I nodded, but suddenly heard Mephiles shout,

"You think I'm done with you two?! I'll show you the real power of Solaris when I'm done with you!" His quills grew longer and so did the claws on his hands, surrounding in even more fire and lava, revealing that he had gotten the power of Solaris even without the help of my power as he stated. I narrowed my eyes then looked to Knuckles and nodded.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Born ready." He smiled, then grabbed onto me, launching me up into the air. I blinked and my eyes had turned a bright yellow color as the same as my fur. Knuckles raised his hands up to the air and then clenched them, releasing a somewhat amazing aura of the color pink. My fur stayed it's yellow color but my eyes turned into another color, which was red. I had somehow turned into the form that Sonic and the others had no problem with changing into. But there were no Chaos Emeralds anywhere, maybe they were just that good with their abilities. I became Super and Knuckles did the same, but was only surrounded by a pink aura, as for me, a yellow aura.

Mephiles' eyes widened in his own kind of fear. He quickly shot a beam of lava at both of us, but we were gone in a flash of red and yellow. Mephiles looked around again and just winced from the light energy that was lingering around. Knuckles and I appeared in the center view of the moon, grabbing a hold of each others hands, then with even more amazing speed, started to spin around as if in a ball made of the blades of the purest light, becoming nothing but a bomb bent on Mephiles' destruction. Our spinning got even faster and we piled many slits on top of Mephiles and finally made contact with his stomach, which intern drove him into the ground and causing him to crack open like the hollow shell he was. Knuckles and I stopped spinning and watched as Mephiles shouted,

"No....no NOOOO!" He shouted as loud as everyone could hear, then finally cracked wide open, revealing something a small core inside of him, flying out of him and away from our sight. We had finally won...and the flames around us had subsided...leaving the trees only cinders and ashes. Knuckles landed and his aura faded away. I did as well, my aura faded away and I hits my knees. Knuckles then helped me up and I thanked him...then smiling at him with much joy. He smiled back,

"That was really awesome, Lauren. You really got the hang of it."

"Hehehe, thanks..." I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and chuckled nervously.

"So Lauren..."

"Hm?"

"What was it you were gonna tell me?" He smiled again, knowing it couldn't have been put off any longer. I smiled and replied to him,

"You...were my favorite character back then...and now that I've met you in real life...I can see you as more than a favorite character..." I blushed red and he blinked.

"Is that so...?" He wondered.

"Y-Yeah...hehe..." I chuckled nervously again.

"Well, I think we may be able to make that a reality." He smiled that tough guy smile as I had always loved. I smiled more and hugged him.

"Knuckles..." I began to cry, knowing that there was more to everyone that meets the eye...


	13. Chapter 13

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 13

Seeing The Sights

That next day, the sun rose high into the air, warming everything in sight, even though almost half of the forest was singed in the rampage of Mephiles and his new state, but all that had been fixed up after Sonic and the others came. I was really proud of myself at the time, knowing that Knuckles didn't mind me saying that he was my favorite character back when I was still human. Feeling the soft afternoon wind through my bangs and dreadlocks really calmed me down after that battle. My arm was still wrapped up from the burn marks, but it was fine for now. Just a few more days and it would be completely healed. I looked up to the sky as I stood on a branch of a grown tree that almost reached up to the soft and puffy clouds and smiled, with my arms crossed. After a few minutes of staring out into space, I began to think...How could Knuckles be so cool about me liking him the way I do? Was he just being nice to make me feel better? Or did he really mean what he said? I didn't know at the time, but I then looked down to the ground after hearing a low toned voice call out to me. Smiling, I quickly jumped down, realizing that it was Knuckles waiting for me at the bottom.

"You doin alright, Lauren?" He asked with that tough guy smile.

"I'm alright. Heh, just a few more days and I'll be good as new." I replied with a faint pinkish blush that filled my cheeks.

He nodded and then chuckled. I tilted my head as to why he was laughing all of a sudden. I blinked and nudged him playfully. "What are you laughing at, dude?" I said with a chuckle as well.

"Well, why do you blush everytime I talk to you?" He smirked and laughed again as he just saw my cheeks turn red with blush.

"Oh cmon, no fair." I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head. He nudged me back softly and he laughed along with me. I never knew he would be this happy around me. I thought around new people he wouldn't be as trusting as he usually is? But I guess...for some reason, he was okay with me.

"Hey Lauren." He began.

"Hm? What?" I replied.

"I think it's time you get to check out Angel Island. Don't you think?" He smiled. Wait...Angel Island? You've got to be kidding me! I've wanted to see that island since I figured out that Knuckles and the others were even there. So in my own nature, I quickly said yes to him and hugged him, only to quickly let him go, wondering to myself...why did I just hug him? He doesn't want to be jumped on or anything. He's Knuckles! I couldn't help but blush again and fiddle with the bandages on my arm nervously. He, again, chuckled and patted me on my shoulder. I looked to him and blinked, noticing something in his eyes that something was different. The purple color remained, but there was something...more. I then agreed to go with him to Angel Island, where for the first time in my life, able to see the Master Emerald up close. He led me up to the island, but since it was still up in the air, he had to teach me how to glide, which was how he always got up there. The wind blew his attention to the tree that he always climbed whenever he wanted to go up to the island. He smiled and climbed up the tree, as I followed I noticed the spike marks that were made as he had gone up many times before.

"Heh. Wow...it's gonna be weird learning how to glide. Was it hard for you to learn, Knuckles?" I asked as I had just landed beside him on a branch that was high enough for us to reach the island.

"It wasn't too hard. My dad actually taught me how, after that, I kept practicing. But I'm sure you can get it on the first try." He smiled again.

"Heh, guess we'll see." I chuckled a bit, still a bit nervous, since being up so high off of the ground and above the ocean was kind of a first for me, being afraid of really high heights. I nodded and gulped.

"The first thing you want to do is feel the wind under your dreadlocks...then when you take off, just catch that wind." He said as his dreadlocks began to blow in the wind, which got a bit harder, enough for us to take off that moment. I nodded and closed my eyes, beginning to feel the wind under my dreadlocks.

Knuckles had already jumped off into the air and caught the wind, and looked back to me, waiting for me to follow. I jumped off and spread out my arms and legs like he did in front of me and actually took off gliding like there was nothing to it. We soon landed on the island and he smiled again.

"Nice work back there. You got it on the first try."

"Hehe, thanks." I chuckled nervously again and followed Knuckles up to the altar of the Master Emerald, which is where we saw the most shocking thing that gave our eyes that look...


	14. Chapter 14

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 14

Love For The Loveless

It was unbearable to even speak about what happened. Knuckles eyes had grown wide to what he had seen....the Master Emerald had been shattered! This whole time that they were there, someone got to the Emerald before Knuckles could protect it. Knuckles began to growl as I ran up to the emerald, picking up one of the pieces that was flung around.

"Knuckles...um...are you alright?" I asked looking back to the angered echidna. He didn't reply...but the clenching of his spiked fists began to get tighter with each passing second thinking about why he wasn't there to guard the emerald from it's recent destruction.

"Hmph...this is exactly why I stay on this island no matter what...to guard it from anything that could harm it..." He growled and he turned, punching one of the nearby pillars in half. I blinked and yerked to his quick reaction, but then stood up and put that particular piece in my pocket. I walked up to Knuckles and put my hand on his shoulder, only to have him glare back at me with nothing but hateful eyes. Taking my hand back, I looked down and felt my bangs fall in front of my eyes, showing nothing but a shadow covering them.

"Knuckles..." He turned his attention to me again, but this time, a bit calmer than before. He sighed and walked up to me, grabbing my hand softly.

"Lauren...I didn't mean to freak you out like that. It's just been a bit hard lately." He replied, looking into my eyes, even though they were still covered.

"It's okay, Knux. I know you were just angry. I understand..." My eyes opened and they looked up to Knuckles, followed by a small smile that almost looked like it was going to disappear that instant. Knuckles' hand was then placed on my right cheek, which in turn made me blush a reddish color. He tried to smile, but just couldn't.

"Are you sure you're okay, Knuckles?" I asked again, putting a hand on his, but to feel it slip away as he took it back made a look of worry appear on my face. He did nothing but shift his eyes away.

"If I'm supposed to be guarding this emerald...why did I let it slip out of my grasp..." He said clenching his fist again. My hands clenched together and a sudden burst of confidence appeared on my face. I put my hand on his cheek this time and brought his attention to my eyes, then smiled at him.

"I will do everything I can Knuckles...to help you get those emerald pieces back here..." I smiled more and blushed again, reminding him that it was in my nature to blush when talking to someone as nice as he was. He then smiled back, realizing that I was really telling the truth.

At first I didn't know what I was going to do next, other than just to take my hand off of his cheek, but I suddenly noticed that he was moving closer. With the next few seconds, I blushed a bit more and felt something on my lips...it was his...he...kissed me? Out of all the people to kiss me...Knuckles? We both slowly closed our eyes, and I kissed back, feeling something I have never felt before...a real kiss...

My hand slipped down off of his cheek, but his remained on mine. I then felt his other hand pulling me closer to deepen the kiss. I blushed a darker red and then stopped, my eyes fluttering open and meeting with his. I never knew why Knuckles would kiss someone like me...but I shifted my eyes away from him.

"Um...I'm uhh...I'm sorry...I..." I stuttered. Knuckles just smiled and brought my attention back to his eyes. I blinked and blushed again, feeling something building up inside me...like...it was real love. But why? Why with Knuckles? I kept thinking that he would later just hate me for something, but something in my head was telling me otherwise.

"I must admit something Lauren..." Knuckles started.

"Wh-What is it...?" I blinked again.

But before he could even reply, something swooped by the both of us with a big enough gust, that it blew us down to the ground and taking cover. That particular being was more familiar to anyone than just us....


	15. Chapter 15

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 15

The Gate

From the recent gust of wind that had blown us down, Knuckles and I got up to see what that figure was. It wasn't any character that I knew of at first, but it was only a robot in the shape of a hawk. Its wings spread out showing circuits flowing through its wings, along with bits of electricity bursting out of it. My eyes narrowed and I growled, and Knuckles…well he began to growl as well, instantly accusing the robot for smashing the emerald into pieces. I stood in front of him, hoping to get him to calm down. He blinked and looked to me in a bit of confusion. Something inside of me had snapped, especially after that kiss. Some burst of confidence had appeared on my face and, being in the same nature as Knuckles, I jumped up at the robot hawk and landed a punch right on its beak, but it didn't budge, giving it the opportunity to swing its electric-filled wing at me, shocking me and throwing me to the ground. I shouted and skidded across the ground, almost falling down the steps to the altar, but Knuckles grabbed my hand and stopped me in my tracks.

He then glared at the hawk, but it had already started flying toward us at a high speed, but Knuckles raised his fists and stopped in dead on. Its wings were still flapping, shooting off electric sparks all over the island. Knuckles grunted and began to skid back toward one of the edges of the altar. He smirked and sneered at the hawk, quickly spinning around and tossing the hawk off of the altar and down to the dirt covered ground with even more force. There was a thud heard from the hawk hitting the ground, but also a crack, showing that one of its wings was resonating with more electricity than before. Knuckles grunted then quickly helped me up from the previous attack.

"Ngh…this looks really familiar…" I said as I arose from the ground.

"Hm?" Knuckles mumbled.

Then, in that sudden stillness of the day, we heard a very familiar laugh come from out of nowhere. I gasped as I turned around with Knuckles, spotting that very same man that almost killed me when I was human.

"Dr. Eggman…" I growled.

"How nice of you to join us, Lauren! I see you've started to love being like your pathetic friends. Ahahahaha!" Replied Eggman with a sneer.

"Don't…you DARE, call them pathetic!" I charged over to Eggman again and jumped toward him, throwing yet another punch, but something was in my way at the last moment. It was that robot hawk again, slashing at me again, thus throwing me back to the ground with that same pain I felt in my back just as Eggman had done to me before. Laying there with all that pain, I couldn't move nothing but my eyes and mouth. One of my eyes opened slightly, just to see Knuckles punching away at the hawk as well, protecting me from any more attacks. I got up slowly again and held onto my back, still feeling that same pain and fear, but that didn't stop me.

Knuckles was again shot back onto a pillar, almost making it crack from the impact, but he, again, got up and charged at them. I grunted and did the same, and this time was different. As I ran beside Knuckles, something in between us was felt as quick as lightning from a storm. Another shock of electricity was brought down on top of us both, and the only audible thing was us shouting from the shock. Eggman laughed his evil laugh and, with his mobile Egg-Drive he floats over to the both of us and smirks, his glasses glaring in that bright sun.

"Ugh…Egg…man…you'll pay…for that!" I got up once again, this time without Knuckles following.

"I won't be the one paying, my dear. It will be YOU!" I then felt the wings of the robot hawk surround me. I looked back and forth frantically and then felt its wings grab me, encasing me in its grasp. I grunted attempting to get away, but that same shock got to me and I shouted once again. My head hung down, and the hawk just stood there holding me up. The shadowed eyes from that hawk were even too piercing…almost as if they had belonged to someone else.

"AH HA HA HA!! You have no chance against me now! There is a new evil that makes its way around inside of you, Lauren. And I plan to release it."

"Wh…What…are…y-you…talking about…" I grunted barely looking up, wincing. Eggman only laughed again, ordering the hawk to hold me tighter. I suddenly felt something moving around in my stomach. Feeling like I was going to throw up, I lost all movement of my body and I hit my knees after the hawk had finally let go of me. My body began to shake. I coughed and a bright red aura surrounded me, about as red as my own blood. I never felt this much pain in one day, fighting Mephiles the day before, and now feeling like I was going to vomit didn't help at all…then feeling something come out was getting closer. Eggman had floated back a bit, knowing it would be catastrophic to even be close to me.

Knuckles had woken up and spotted me on the ground with the hawk, now flying beside Eggman, waiting for something to happen. Knuckles quickly got up and grabbed a hold of my arm, but only to be shot back again by the hawk. Knuckles grunted and went for them again, but was stopped by a certain blue blur that had stepped in front of him with that same smirk that had always shown on his face.

"Don't worry, Knucklehead, we got this. Get Lauren out of here!" Sonic sped up to Eggman and quickly went into a spindash, even faster than before. His spines were even as sharp as the ends of a blade. Sonic flew at the hawk and sliced right through its center circuitry, making it explode on impact, but the blue blur was nowhere to be seen, at least not around them. He was standing on the edge of Eggman's Egg-Drive from behind, his arms crossed and that same smirk.

"Thought you lost me there didn't ya, Egghead?"

"SONIC!" Eggman yelled out his name in anger, but was only shot up into the air and away from the island for a good long while by Sonic landing a spinning kick on the bottom of the Egg-Drive. Sonic landed on his feet then looked back to me and Knuckles, who were now at the bottom of the altar, taking cover from the blast. Sonic peeked over the edge from the top of the altar and shouted.

"Hey! You two okay down there?!"

"We're okay!" Knuckles shouted back, as then Sonic sped down the steps and was there beside us by nearly a millisecond. I showed signs of waking up after a few minutes. Sonic bent down to me and nudged me.

"Hey, Lauren. You okay?" He blinked with a bit of concern.

"Ngh…what…" I sat up pretty quickly and looked at them both, then holding my stomach suddenly. "What the heck happened…?" Knuckles and Sonic looked at each other, only to have Sonic shrug, but Knuckles sighed and looked back at me.

"Eggman did something to you…but I'm not sure what." He replied. I blinked and felt that something was empty in my stomach. Whatever it was…I felt like I was the gate to bringing in a new evil to this world…


	16. Chapter 16

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 16

Long Time Visit Gone Wrong

After spending a day relaxing, especially after that battle with Eggman and that robot, I decided to take another visit to my house and see my mom after so long...well, actually, it was her that had wanted me to come home. She had been worried sick about me for quite awhile, so I told her yes, but it couldn't be too long on account of all those enemies searching for me and attempting to get that power inside me. I got up from sitting on the roof of Amy's house and jumped down, waiting for Sonic and Tails to come out and get the Tornado ready.

"Hey, Sonic! You guys ready?" I said peeking through the door and blinking.

"Yeah, we'll be ready in a sec." Tails smiled with his two special tails swaying. I smiled back and then walked back outside, only to accidently bumping into Knuckles. I yerked and shook my head, instantly apologizing to him for not looking where I was going.

"Sorry, Knuckles. I should've looked before just taking off." I chuckled and a drop of sweat fell down my face in embarrassment.

"Heh, it's okay. So you ready to go see your mom again?" He replied with a smile. I shifted my foot back and forth, being shy again, folding my hands behind my back and smiled again.

"Yeah...I sure hope nothing goes wrong. I don't want my parents to get hurt...ya know." My eyes moved away from looking directly at him and sighed. Again, that same warm feeling came roaming around in my stomach and I blushed a faint red color. Feeling that hand of Knuckles really gets me everytime, but he looked to me and just smiles.

"I'm sure everything will go okay. If not, I'll be sure to make it better." He smirked that tough guy smirk again...which in turn, made me blush a bit more.

"Heh...thanks, Knuckles." I nodded and put my hand on his, but then quickly taking it off, followed by a small chuckle from Knuckles' mouth.

We then heard the somewhat loud laugh from Sonic as he sped out of the house and behind me. I blinked and felt another drop of sweat fall. He was actually followed by Amy who was a bit ticked off at something smart that Sonic had said. She flailed her arms up and down like the angry hedgehog she was, but refused to chase Sonic, on account she didn't really care at the moment, but she was still on fire. I chuckled nervously then brought Amy back inside the house, hoping to calm her down, then came out a few minutes later with wide eyes.

"Sonic...I don't even think I wanna know what you said to her."

"Ehehe, I don't think I need to tell you." He chuckled as well and scratched the back of his head.

"Haa...alright, if you guys are ready and are done actin' like kids, I think I'm ready too." I laughed, placing my hands on my hips.

They finally got the Tornado ready and we took off back to my house. As we flew by the same pasture that was next to my house, I looked down and suddenly let out a gasp. Knuckles blinked as he sat behind me and wondered,

"Lauren, what is it?" He then looked down to where I was pointing and his eyes also grow wide, along with Sonic and Tails doing the same.

What we had looked down to had shocked us all...my entire house had been burnt to nothing but a crisp. My eyes were still wide, but then turned to a few sayings of the word,

"No...no no...you've got to be...NO!" I banged on the window of the Tornado's cockpit and I wouldn't stop. "TAILS! OPEN THE HATCH! PLEASE!!"

Tails hesitated at first, still in shock from what had happened, but he finally snapped back to reality and opened the back cockpit of the plane, allowing me and Knuckles to jump out. I was the first one out and flipping a few times before landing on my feet. Knuckles had followed behind as well as Sonic, signalling Tails to go back to the lab to analyze what had happend over the past few days. As I landed, I quickly took off toward the middle of the ash that was left of my house and looked around frantically.

"Mom? ....MOM! MOM WHERE ARE YOU?! ANSWER ME!!" I shouted over and over looking through any of the remaining debris around the ashes. I continued circling the place, but Knuckles kept his own cool as he searched. Apparently I had circled the area a bit too much and found myself dropping to my knees, burying my face in my hands.

"Momma....where are you...WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU GOTTA ANSWER ME!!" I punched the ash covered ground with my right fist and almost felt one of the knuckles crack, since it was part of my knuckle, I felt the pain from it. Knuckles quickly ran up to me and reached his hand out to my shoulder, then pulling me into a hug. I started to sob...but also hugging back. Whoever did this to my family...was certainly gonna face the consequences...


	17. Chapter 17

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 17

Inside Out Anger

I couldn't believe it…someone came to my own house and just burnt it to pieces. I kept my face buried on Knuckles' shoulder, due to me still crying over what had happened, but Knuckles reached his hand to my cheek and lifted me to his eyes. I looked to him with tears rolling down my peach muzzle and sniffed starting to stutter, not exactly sure what I was trying to say. Knuckles' face had gotten a bit worried, but he rubbed my cheek a bit, wiping away some of those tears that were falling to the ground like rain would fall. The clouds above us were starting to get dark, as if a storm was coming our way. Sonic looked around still trying to find any clues as to who or what did this. Knuckles got my attention by saying my name, attempting to calm me down a bit more, but then just kissed me again on the lips for a second before letting go of me. I just let him kiss me and he then stood up, reaching out his hand for me like any guy with manners would do.

I took his hand and stood up with him, wiping away the remaining of my tears and looking back to Sonic, then to the rest of my home. My eyes were narrowed with sudden anger, and my fists were clenched so tight, I could feel my fingers almost dig into my palms. Knuckles noticed this and placed a hand on my shoulder, which cause me to pull away and then walk off toward where my dad's shop was. Knuckles blinked, then followed.

"Lauren, where are you going?" He said following close behind.

"I'm going…to find my family…" I replied with a bit of lower tone to my voice. I kept walking until I reached my dad's shop. Looking to the board that was hanging on the outside of the wall, it read, "Golf Tournament, Be Back Sunday." And since it was Friday at this time, I wouldn't have to worry about him for the weekend. I glanced back at the destroyed home and grunted, my fists clenching more.

"Whoever did this…will definitely pay…" I walked off again. Knuckles looked over to Sonic and he shrugged, but they decided to start following again. We looked toward the few houses that went past mine…like my grandma's old house, which is where my dad is living at the moment, and my empty neighbors' house, then a few more neighbors going down the road. Knuckles finally couldn't take it anymore, and with his eyes narrowed, he ran ahead in front of me with his arms spread out. I stopped and blinked, trying to move past him, but he grabbed me by the arm and just stared into my eyes with almost as much hate as I had in my heart.

"Lauren, I know you're upset, but that doesn't mean you have to go off by yourself to find who did this!" I jerked away from his grasp and he growled.

"Says you Knuckles…you go off more times than me and do things on your own and just try and get it over with without even thinking!" This only made Knuckles even angrier. He grabs me by the collar of my shirt and growls more, gritting his teeth.

"You listen to me, kid. Don't you even think about judging me that way. I have my own reasons of what I do…make one more remark and you won't even be able to stand anymore." He let go of my shirt and just stood there, waiting for a response. My head hung down, my eyes covered in a black shadow, as if my own anger was starting to rise, but this time, I couldn't hold anything else back. I raised my fist and just smacked him across the face, then just holding my position in that spot. Sonic looked in surprise and he blinked, then knowing he should do something to stop us from trying to kill each other, but he just quietly sped off, leaving us to work it out on our own. Knuckles yerked from the slap and kept his head turned to the side, but then looked back in surprise also, wondering why I, out of many people who act like me, would slap the one that they've loved for quite sometime. My hand lowered back to my side and I just stood there for another second.

"…I'm sorry…" I crouched down and quickly sped off past Knuckles, almost leaving a yellow streak behind me from going so fast. Knuckles watched me as I went by, feeling the faint wind blow through his dreadlocks and just stared into the distance. Knuckles looked upward and just frowned, unaware of what he had done…even though…he probably had a bit of an idea what it was that made me like this...


	18. Chapter 18

\ Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 18

Get Out Alive

I didn't know if I would regret that past moment or not. I kept my speed about to fifty miles an hour, with the help of my new found speed with this form and sped into a bigger part of the town I was in, known as Cedar Grove. I came to a small part of the woods at some point when I stopped and stood under a tree, then looking up to the dark clouded sky panting. My hands rested on my knees as I was bent down to the ground almost about to collapse. Anger is such cruel part of life...it takes over your heart...and just destroys it and the feelings of the ones you love. My eyes closed halfway, only to have them open back open completely to feel a few drops of cold rain fall in between the leafy trees and onto my yellow fur. I blinked when one dropped into my eye and then took cover underneath the tree next to me. Still panting, I glanced back up a few times to finally realize that those dark clouds were becoming a storm.

I knew this would be trouble, because if I was underneath a tree, and with storm like this forming, there would be lightning. The ground started to get muddy from all the dirt around me, making it slippery to run on, but I took off away from the forest and through the remaining trees. The wind began to pick up, which made it harder to see where I was going at the time. I knew my way around my own town...but something in the wind blurred my vision and made me stop, covering my face from the wind and the rain, even though I was getting soaked. I stopped in my tracks and finally slipped out from under my feet and falling face forward and into the mud.

My fur was now covered with that dirty and wet mud, making my bangs hang down lower into my face. The wind got a bit faster and my dreadlocks and clothes were blowing all over the place. I grunted trying to get back up again, but no luck, my vision was completely blocked by the intense rain. Even the sound of thunder had sounded, it booming through the rest of the town. I never knew storms would get this bad in Cedar Grove, but then again I've been in worse storms than this. I blinked then shut my eyes tight.

"S-Someone....please help....ANYONE?!" I shouted out as loud as I could, but no one was around to hear me. "Please....anyone....help...." I contined to mumble to myself until I gasped, hearing the loud boom of the thunder, but then looked upward slightly, seeing one of my worst fears...lightning, when it strikes...was said not to leave anything in one peace after it struck it's target.

My eyes grew wide as I spotted a particular lightning bolt strike down toward me...and I had no time to get away. It struck down a nearby tree and the shock went through the ground and right to me. Mother Nature had given me a taste of what would happen if I stayed there. I couldn't move and the intensity of the shock was so great...I screamed as loud as I possibly could because of so much pain. The light of the flash had brightened everything around me, but I was still nowhere to be seen. And what made it worse...was the tree that was struck had fallen down over top of me, almost breaking my back and killing me, but luckily I was still alive...barely. Instead I was outcold and shaking from the shock. It was too unbarable to take in. My body couldn't react to it, as if my whole body had frozen in time...unable to move...

Meanwhile, Sonic had been running around all over Cedar Grove, and basically the entire town in search of me, as Knuckles jumped from tree to tree with amazing force searching as well, dodging each lightning strike. It seemed that every one of these bolts were somehow controlled in some way. But that wasn't on Sonic and Knuckles' mind at that time. They thoroughly searched the woods and each corner, only to find nothing in their paths.

Deep in the findings of my mind...there was nothing but white...and of course, the image of me just standing there. Was this...heaven? Or was this something else? I'm still in my echidna form...but where am I? I was walking around glancing back and forth, then looking ahead to see a figure walking toward me. I blinked and stopped in my tracks, still in nothing but white all around me. The figure began to get closer, thus their image becoming more clear to me. My eyes squinted a bit to get a better look...that figure...was so familiar. And with every step they took, my eyes grew wider to see who it was, following my body suddenly moving upward, but not the body in my mind, but the body on the cold, hard ground of the outskirts of Cedar Grove. My vision was still very blurred as my eyes were about just a centimeter open...I then...heard voices? There were voice saying my name over and over...but I only passed out once again, too weak to say or do anything. That was the last thing I had heard...the voice of the one I love...


	19. Chapter 19

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 19

Enter Black Wind

I felt that my body had been moved out from under the fallen tree, hearing grunts from the two figures that were helping me, even though I was passed out, I could hear them. In my mind I recognized who the two were, but the vision was already blurred out. I had felt the rain and wind blowing through my fur, as I had soon woken up, but barely opening my eyes, which were now a solid green color just as before. My body still couldn't move, but those voices continued to talk back to each other as they made their way through the rest of the forest and then back into my town of Cedar Grove.

The rain was still coming down hard, not leaving anything dry in it's path. As well as the storm...it was still booming like the cannons of Eggman's robots, but louder. The two figures as I still tried to make them out had finally reached a house, which I immediately recognized as Amy's house, and quickly ran inside from the rain, one of them holding me in his arms. That one went over to the couch and set me down, telling everyone in their way to move aside. I heard a few more voices around me, but for some reason, I still couldn't make out who was who. The sounds were nothing to me at the moment, it sounded...like mumbling.

My eyes were still open slightly as I stared at the ceiling, only to be blocked by the dripping wet dreadlocks of my love, Knuckles. He placed his hand on my cheek and softly pat up against it, attempting to wake me up more. I then heard his voice, the same tough guy...but this time, was worried.

"Lauren...Lauren, wake up!!"

I was still not answering. Knuckles grunted and he stood up, then sitting beside me on the couch, still trying to wake me up more. There at that moment, there was a knock on the door to the house. The thunder was still sounding outside, so they hesitated with opening it. Sonic walked up to the door and peeked through the peephole in the door and noticed a black hedgehog with red stripes standing outside in the pouring rain. Wait...Sonic thought...why was he here? He decided to open the door and let him in. The black hedgehog had a long leather jacket on him just to keep him dry, but his quills were still soaked. He then looked to Sonic and nodded to him.

"I see you have the girl here." He spoke taking off that jacket and hanging it on the rack next to the door. "But what happened?" He asked, wringing out the water from his quills.

"We just found her unconscious on the ground pinned underneath a tree...we're not sure what else." Sonic replied walking up to the wall and placing his hand on the wall and leaning up against it. The black hedgehog was easily recognized when he walked up to me lying on the couch. My eyes finally shifted over and I spotted him and blinked slowly, attempting to say something, but Knuckles had placed his finger over my mouth, preventing me from saying anything. I slowly looked up to Knuckles and my frown had turned into a smile. My attention turned back to the hedgehog, who I found out in my mind...was Shadow the Hedgehog.

I wasn't sure why he was here at first, so he bends down in front of me and places his hand over where my heart would be. Still weak from the shock, I was panting a bit softer than before, which in turn got Shadow to blink and then say what everyone really WANTED to hear.

"Hm...I can feel it inside her...she was struck by a lightning bolt..." Shadow finally said and took his hand back off of me. Everyone's eyes had widened at this point. Lightning?! How could she have survived from being struck by lightning?! It puzzled everyone in the room. Amy looked to Sonic and he put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her. Amy just hugged onto him, worried about their new friend. Cream and Cheese were already in tears when they saw me in this condition, so everyone was clearly wanting to know if I was going to be alright.

Shadow looked to them all, then back to Knuckles and he nodded.

"Don't worry. Things like this are no problem for me now." Shadow looked into my eyes and spoke again, "You may feel a bit of discomfort...but try to endure it." I nodded weakly and he smiled.

Shadow took both his hands and placed them over my stomach, which is where he had detected most of the electricity that was roaming around inside my body. His hands began to glow a bright blue color, almost as if the color of the same lightning that had struck me. That specific arua had surrounded my entire body and I closed my eyes again. A few seconds passed and a sudden yelp had come from my mouth followed by a grunt. I began to feel movement in my body again, which from the pain, made me grab at Shadow's hand wanting him to stop. As I grabbed it he looked to me,

"You must bear it for a few more seconds! Get her off!" He said. Knuckles quickly grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled it off Shadow, and also holding my other arm down. My eyes shut tight and I cringed, gritting my teeth. Finally, the aura from Shadow's hands had faded and the pain had completely stopped. I layed back onto the couch again and was out again. Knuckles placed my hands back down and glanced at Shadow, in question,

"What did you do...?"

"My Chaos energy is now combined with electricity. I can control any part of the electric elements in this world...the kid will be fine, she just needs rest now." Shadow replied and stood up.

No one in the room how he had gotten that new power of his, but also were relieved that I was okay for the time being. Shadow remained at the house for a few more minutes until the storm had subsided, leaving behind all the trees wet with the rain and looking up in the sky, spotting a rainbow just coming out over the horizon. They all smiled and then went on through the rest of the night in Amy's house, awaiting me to wake up...


	20. Chapter 20

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 20

Apology

A few hours had passed and I finally woke up to notice the ceiling of the house again. Nothing but a yellow colored ceiling was staring back. Hmm...I thought to myself as I looked around the room, wondering if there was anyone in the room with me. No one was in view from left to right, since I was still laying down with the covers over me, so I began to sit up, grunting a bit from the remaining pain and looked around the room some more. My eyes came across that same red echidna with the spiked white gloves sitting in front of the bed, sitting up against the wall asleep. I blinked and my frown had turned into a small smile, but then back to a frown from remembering what I had done to him before I ran off like a drama queen.

"....Knuckles...?" I said quietly, on account of my voice still harmed from the shock. There was no answer. Apparently I wasn't loud enough for him to hear. So I looked down to my hands, which were singed from the shock and blinked. My teeth bit over top of my lip and I shut my eyes tight, feeling a few tears run down my peach muzzle. I began to sob quietly, almost curling up from what I was thinking about in my head. I slapped him out of anger...and he didn't do anything back. But he was Knuckles! Why wouldn't he hit me back? That didn't seem like him...but I knew one thing...I had to say something to him. But he was asleep, I didn't want to disturb him.

"Knuckles....I...I'm so sorry....I was being foolish...just stupid...I just got...c-carried away...." I buried my face into my hands and just sobbed, again, curling up a bit more.

It looked like my sudden sobbing had gotten Knuckles' attention. He woke up and his eyes looked toward my head hanging down over my arms. Knuckles blinked and spoke,

"...Lauren..." He said in a soft tone. My head remained buried in my arms, not wanting to lift my head up, even though I heard his voice. Knuckles got up and walked to the bed, then sat down next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I finally looked up with tears running down my face as a stream and blinked. I wanted to turn my head away...so I did, but Knuckles placed his hand on my cheek and wipes away my tears, then turned my face back to me.

"Knuckles...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to, I..." I began to stutter once again while attempting to say what I was trying to say, but nothing really came out clear.

"Lauren. Lauren!" He shouted a bit getting me to stop. I blinked and looked into his eyes with a few more tears still falling. Knuckles smiled and just kissed me on the cheek. "I know you were just upset...it's okay."

"A...Are you sure...I really didn't mean it, Knuckles...I swear..." I said again with a bit of a stutter. I then felt Knuckles' finger on my mouth, wanting me to stop talking. He smiled that tough guy smile again and hugged me. I narrowed my eyes and then hugged him back, holding him close.

The sun outside had started to lose it's shine, as it was now night time out in the open wide fields and forests around Amy's house. The leaves of the trees were still left black from Mephiles' recent rampage, but other than that, it was quite beautiful when the moon began to rise. Sonic had been standing outside over one of those trees and he sighed, looking up to the nightlit sky. He then smirked and and took off at the speed of sound. Back in the house, Knuckles had been sitting there for a good half hour talking to me, being one of the best friends I could ever have. I was leaning on his left shoulder, his arm wrapped around mine as we continued to talk.

"Knuckles..." I began.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry...for what happened yesterday..." I looked down again.

"It's okay...really, Lauren." Knuckles smiled again and held me close.

I finally smiled back and just leaned on him. But later it would be time for everyone to go to bed, so we all went back to our rooms. Of course, Knuckles would be about to leave for Angel Island, but knowing him he'd be looking for the pieces of the Master Emerald.

The next day...we finally got a chance to kick back and relax...


	21. Chapter 21

Lauren The Echidna

Chapter 21

Visiting

So we finally had the chance to relax the next day. All except Knuckles, since he was still searching for the missing pieces of the Master Emerald, but only found a few from looking so much. He wasn't as familiar with my town and state of North Carolina, but he managed, loving the fact that he got to explore and search for new treasures. Me on the other hand...I really couldn't relax. It being Saturday and all, my dad still wasn't back from his golf trip, but I took into consideration that he was doing okay, on account of getting text messages from him every night telling me good night. I was walking around outside, feeling the soft afternoon wind blowing through my dreadlocks, and the sun shining brightly in the sky, hoping to dry up the rain from the previous night. I glanced around at the trees that were still burnt and it made me stop to stare for a minute.

Many questions veered inside my head...where was my mom and my dog, Sandy? I couldn't bear the thought that they may have been gone forever, but I knew somehow that they were still alive. Maybe it was just some kind of special senses that Sonic and the others have, or maybe it was me being paranoid. Who knows, but I continued my walk, which got me to start thinking, what became of my friends at school? Did they get everything fixed? It puzzled me, but I decided to take another visit, this time to my school, Roxboro Christian Academy. Many things have happened over the past two years I've been at that school, but I was too worried about my mom to even think about it.

After about a half hour of walking, I finally came up to my school. There were cars in the parking lot, which were seen by me standing on the roof of the school building, and then more cars pulling in. I looked around at the more familiar cars, such as a black dodge truck, a silver colored car, and an orange car. I remembered each of these, that belonged to my friends, Austin, Alex, and Kristia. My smile appeared on my face, knowing that they were there, but then I found myself thinking...what would they think of me becoming an echidna? They would sure be surprised and shocked, so I jumped down from the school building, only to be spotted by another one of my friends, Abby. She was actually just coming out of her car, returning to her class from lunch. She then looked to me and my yellow furred self, then gasped.

"Wait...Lauren, is that you?" She asked. I hesitated to respond, but then nodded and said yes to her, still hiding up beside the wall. She walked up to me and blinked, not knowing what else to say about what I had become.

"I uhh...I realize this is awkward, so I'll just get out of here."

"No wait. We haven't seen you in days! After what happened here we were all wondering how you've been doing! ...Hmm...better yet. Let's go inside. Everyone's in Mrs. Anderson's room right now. Cmon!" She grabbed my boxing glove covered hand and walked with me inside the cafeteria door, and heading to Mrs. Anderson's room, who was actually my science/math teacher, and walked in. Abby had gone in first, but I quickly let go hiding behind the doorway, not wanting to come in.

"Abby, this is a bad idea." I said with a whisper.

"Oh cmon, Liz. Get in here." And yes, everyone at my school called me Liz because there was more than one Lauren there at the school the past two years, so they had to call me something. Abby grabbed my hand again and pulled me into the room, where everyone was already carrying on, talking and laughing, until they saw me.

The first one to realize me was of course, Alex, her real name being Alexandra, she blinked and stood up, staring at me.

"You've got to be kidding me...Liz?" She said. I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment.

"Y-Yeah...it's me." I shrugged feeling a drop of sweat falling down my face. I then looked to the others and they were just staring at me for a moment, until another girl in my class, Courtney, stood up and walked up to me, and of course with that country redneck accent, she says,

"Liz? Is that really you?" I nodded and she just started laughing, in awe of what I had become, along with everyone else coming up to me and talking with me. I blinked and looked to them with a smile, and then looked over to Mrs. Anderson, who was standing up above them all. Me, feeling short, looked up to Mrs. Anderson and chuckled.

"I see you guys haven't really changed much since that attack huh?"

"Yeah, but I didn't expect to see you for quite awhile…after those characters took off with you. And the fact that you…are now one of them!" Said Mrs. Anderson with a big laugh. I laughed along with them all, knowing with these guys, there was never a dull moment. But I then glanced around and spotted a certain someone laying their head on the desk, as usual I might add. It was none other than Austin. Everyday in our classes, he would always go to sleep for a bit then get on with his work, but knowing him he always gets it done.

I smiled and walked over to him and poked him on the head, then stepped back waiting for him to wake up. He rose his head up and blinked to see a yellow echidna with green eyes standing there in front of him with arms crossed.

"Hehe, hey there Austin. Sleep good?" I laughed a bit and he looked at me, nothing coming out of his mouth at the moment, but then speaking,

"Huh? Lauren? Wait, you can't be Lauren, I think I'm dreamin." He rubbed his eyes and still saw me, that same yellow echidna standing there. "Okay, so I guess I'm not dreamin…but is that REALLY you?!" He stood up and blinked. I nodded and smiled up at him.

"Yep, it's me. Surprised?" He nodded a few times and laughed a bit, now also in shock of what I was.

A few more minutes had passed and they finally got the entire story of why I was what I was and they were astounded. Also shocked with the fact that all the things I loved had become reality here on Earth. I stood there against the black board that was behind me and crossed my arms. I continued to laugh along with them all as they asked me so many questions of what it's like to be an echidna. With a smile, I told them that it was quite shocking at first, but then I started thinking that it was really cool to be like Sonic and the others.

"Well…I guess I'd better get back to Amy's place. I'll see you guys some other time." I smiled and headed out the door, when Kristia spoke,

"Are you gonna like...come back at all? With that bad guy you were talkin about, do you think he's gonna attack here?" I stopped in my tracks on my way out the door, then looked back with a confident smile.

"I won't let Eggman get anywhere near you guys. I promise." I smiled more at them all then quickly sped out the door where no one else would see me.

I knew in my head that they would tell the rest of the school, but they kept me updated with the school and how things were going on there. Missing so many classes was really taking a toll on me, but I knew I couldn't stay there everyday, because Eggman or someone would've tracked me down and started wrecking the place. So what I did was I kept serveilance over the school and over my friends, but also in the process of finding out where my mother was...I stood on top of a tall tree looking up at the night sky once again, up at the moon...the faint wind blowing around me...

"...Mom...where are you..."


	22. Chapter 22

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 22

Beginning Of The End

I spent the night over at Amy's house once again, since it being the only real place I was safe at, without any other bad guy being able to find me. It was finally Sunday afternoon, the time when my dad would be back from his golf trip, but I was curious as to if I should go see him back at home or not. Again, this got me thinking, until Cream knocks on the door to the guest room where I slept and peeking inside.

"Lauren? We have lunch ready. Would you like something to eat?" Her small and frail voice was way too cute for me to say no. She was only 6, but she had better manners than anyone I knew. I smiled and got up, following her out of the room and to the dining room table. The table was lined with only one pink table cloth going over top of it, and a small vase with a bright red rose in it. I sat down with both Cream, Cheese, and Amy, and we just laughed and talked about the same girl stuff that we would normally talk about.

Soon I would be finished eating, and I was nice enough to take their plates and wash them up right quick before I went out for my day of training. I smiled and said goodbye to them and rushed out the door, running down the field heading toward another part of my town. As I looked around, I began to think...was my dad home yet? Maybe I should go see him...so I did. I took off to the north, through the rest of the trees and going past my burnt down house. I had to look away until I ran up to my grandma's old house and stopped to see my dad's motorcycle trailer there as well as his gray and white ford truck. I smiled big, knowing that he was home, then rushed to the front door and knocked. After a few minutes there was no answer.

I waited as long as possible, which wasn't long for me, so I get out my phone and I call his cell phone. It rang a few times before someone answered, but it wasn't my dad on the other end...

"Hmhmhmhm...looking for someone?" That voice was as dark as I could remember a few weeks ago. That same eerie sounding, low-toned voice, with that same snicker that was in my mind. I gasped as I knew quickly who it was...

"M....Mephiles?!" I looked around frantically then spoke again, "Where is my dad?!?" I shouted into the speaker.

"My my...don't get so worked up over someone you care nothing about...hmhmhm..."

I growled and shouted that same question...where was my dad? I couldn't help but growl more as Mephiles laughed again, holding up the phone toward three figures sitting down against the wall, tied up with rope, as a normal kidnapping would happen, and I heard two familiar voices speaking and begging to let them go, along with a few whimpering noises in the background.

"...Mom...Dad...and Sandy..." My eyes had grown wide and my pupils shrank. I dropped the phone and stood there shaking, my fists clenching with great force. I could hear the faint laughing of Mephiles after dropping the phone from the speaker. I growled again and quickly stomped on the phone, crushing it into pieces, not caring about where I would find them. Because I already knew where he was keeping my family.

A seemingly dark aura had begun to surround my body...even darker than before. My eyes were slowly turning to slits and slowly changing to a dark red color. My anger grew even wider as I then felt someone's hand being placed on my shoulder. I glanced back, gritting my teeth and clenched fists and noticed that it was Sonic.

"What do you want, Sonic..." I said with a lower voice.

"Take it easy, Lauren...I heard everything...we'll get your family back." He smirked that smirk of a hero and let go of my shoulder, which really didn't do as much as he had hoped.

I jerked away from him and stormed away, stomping step after step past him and back to my own home. I stood in the ashes of the house and picked some of the ashes up in my hand. My fist clenched and I dropped the ashes from my hand and to the ground, it slowly blowing away from me.

"This time Mephiles.....you've gone way too far....this time.... YOU'LL PAY!!! " I shouted up to the skies of the day, my voice echoing from here and afar, which got everyone's attention. I shouted once more and I stood there...waiting for an answer...from Mephiles...from my parents...anyone...

Nothing was happening...

I knew this...was the beginning of the end...


	23. Chapter 23

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 23

Next To Final Battle

My anger had risen to the point where my blood was boiling like the hot lava from a volcano. Fists clenched, teeth gritted tight, and my eyes glowing that same black color. As Sonic made his way up behind me, following where I had gone toward my home. He placed his hand on my shoulder once again and I glanced back at him, then pulling away.

"Get off me..." I said with that same dark voice.

"Lauren, I know you're having a hard time right now...but we need to get Knuckles and Tails to help out-"

"NO! I'm gonna find out what Mephiles did to my family...and he's gonna pay big time..." I began to speak and stormed off toward where I had sensed my family's body heat from the air. I somehow had that specific sense to find anyone from high altitudes and far distances.

Sonic stood in place then narrowed his eyes and let out a simple 'hmph' then sped off back to Tails' workshop which was now moved close to where my grandparents' lived, but far enough to where my enemies would not find them. I looked up at the sky and then back down in front of me, bent downward on one knee and closed my eyes for a few seconds. After that moment...I knew where my family was being held. I quickly dashed from the remaining ashes of my house down past my neighbor's houses with what seemed to be more speed than before.

My anger was building. Mephiles had gone too far with kidnapping my family in order to get that power inside with me. I began to growl, showing my gritted teeth, which were somehow starting to become fangs. A faint dark red streak was being left behind me as I ran almost at supersonic speed down the road back toward Roxboro. I sped down road 49 toward that town and finally arrived back in Roxboro, the lights were all dimmed down, almost off, even though they were barely seen. The entire city was quiet, as if the day was already over, but it was still daylight. This did puzzle me, but I started to run around looking for Mephiles' new base.

A few minutes had passed and I spotted the old building that used to be Palace Pointe. I looked closer to it and felt that same dark power that I had felt before. Footsteps were taken cautiously, beginning to notice that there was a difference in the power that I was feeling. The entire building was engulfed in flames at certain parts, and at other points, filled with electricity.

I took a few more steps and finally found myself inside the building, glancing around, feeling my fingers dig into my palms again. I growled, feeling that same feeling as I kept walking, then turned to my right down a hallway and into the old skating rink that we always used to skate on during our weekly Friday night parties. I looked around and suddenly heard the faint shouting of my family begging to be let go. But one of those shouts...was actually a whimper from a dog. Yes...my dog, Sandy. She was way too small to fight on her own if she wanted to. I gasped and growled more, knowing Mephiles was up to no good again.

I took a quick turn back down the hallway to the left side this time and ended up in the old bowling alley, but it wasn't a bowling alley anymore. My eyes widened to see the entire room to be a giant computerized enclosement: Electric wiring coming out from the wall and wires just hanging there. I couldn't believe what Mephiles had done to this place. I stood there and growled, then hearing the shouting of my family.

Their shouting led to a steel barred cage just like the one that I was placed in the beginning. I ran up to it, seeing all my family in the cage, wrapped up in the rope still.

"MOM! DAD!" I grabbed the bars of the cage and looked inside with great worry. They both looked up and spotted me in my yellow furred state and my mother gasped.

"Lauren!! What are you doing here?!" My mother shouted in fear, but glad to see her daughter alright.

"Lauren get out of here! That character is still around!!" Shouted my dad. I then growled and glanced over to my dog, who was laying on her side whimpering in pain. My eyes narrowed and then drooped with even more worry than before.

"Sandy...my baby puppy..." Tears began to form in my eyes, then they quickly dried up, seeing that black glow in my eyes again. This was indeed the last battle that I would be facing for quite awhile...if I was to make it worth it...I was to give it every ounce of power I had...


	24. Chapter 24

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 24

Mephiles' Final Form

I knew in my head that this would be the final time that Mephiles would stay alive. Before he was just a mass of red and blue smoke formed into an orb, but how was he alive to begin with? If Sonic and the others finished him off a few years ago, how did he come back?! It indeed got me thinking, but all that anger filled my head so much I didn't even think. My dad looked to me, noticing this and tried standing up, even though he was still bound to the rope and called my name out. I looked back to him and he stared into my eyes, seeing that black glow.

"Lauren...I've told you before hun, you don't need to let that anger get out of control." He stepped up to the bars of the cage. I just stared at him, blinked once then turned away.

"I already told you...I can handle it, dad...I just don't want Mephiles to hurt any of you anymore..."

"The only one he's hurt is Sandy...she tried to protect us, I'm sure of that." My dad replied with a worried look on his face.

"I know she did her best...but I don't want to lose her...so..." I looked up and around the base, making my dad step back a few steps, because he knew that I was going to find Mephiles no matter what.

My fists clenched again and I shouted out his name, hoping to hear an answer, but then stopped in my tracks and felt like I was frozen. I was indeed frozen, but literally frozen. My feet had been iced over from some kind of odd mist that had surrounded me. I knew that power anywhere...Mephiles was around me...somewhere. I tried pulling my feet off of the icy ground, but it was no use. Punch after punch I only scathed the ice, with no progress of shattering it. As I continued, I suddenly heard that evil laugh of Mephiles, as if he was right behind me. And he was...I glanced back and my eyes widened in fear as before.

His appearance was completely different this time. His quills had turned entirely black, even darker black than Shadow's, the tips of each quill was a different color: icy blue, fire red, electric yellow, nature's green and finally on the top quill was just the same purple color like the poison in his system. The tips of his fingers were also colored claws, but were only all purple at the time. Since the rest of his body was black, he had no emotion on his muzzle, but still with those same eerie green eyes with slits. I couldn't believe what he had become. Plus, I recognized each of those colors...he had obtained five of the seven Chaos Emeralds!

"Hmhmhmhm.....how nice of you to join me, Lauren Berry.....hmhmhm...." His laugh was even more evil than before. His eyes narrowed with somewhat joy, glad to have his prey in front of him incapacitated. I continued to struggle. My parents kept shouting out my name and begging Mephiles to leave me alone...well, my mom at least. My dad was shouting and cussing at the black hedgehog, getting out almost every bit of anger, not wanting him to touch his only daughter.

"Mephiles....you've gone too far with this....kidnapping my family...and hurting them?! YOU'RE TWISTED!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but only to have him float to the front of me and grabbing me by the throat, squeezing tightly.

"You are in no place to talk kid....you make one more outburst...it will be the end of your family....hmhmhm...." He snickered evilly then laughed more, letting me go and making me fall to the ground.

His power.....was unbelievable beyond the stars of the universe. I was in so much fear and anger at the same time....his new form...may have been his final form....


	25. Chapter 25

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 25

Dark Super Form Revealed

My eyes were widened with so much fear I couldn't stop myself from shaking. Even though my anger was building, I knew that I couldn't do anything to save my family. Mephiles glared down at me, which made me shake even more, then raised his hand to snap, when there was a bright light shining above his fingers. He laughed evilly and looked me in the eyes. My green eyes shrank and I blinked, still trying to break free of the ice from my feet.

"Wh...What are you gonna do..." I stuttered and shook badly, unable to move any longer, feeling his dark energy in his eyes. Mephiles did nothing but laugh again then tossing the orb of light into my face, but instead in went into my mouth and forcing me to swallow. I gagged after that and started to hold my throat in pain. I shouted at the top of my lungs, not knowing what he had done to me at first. A faint red and black aura began to surround my entire body, an aura so strong, it broke the ice around my feet and I was thrown back onto the floor. My dad stood in front of my mom, as if protecting her from what was going on, then got to Sandy to huddle and stay away from this immense power coming from me.

Mephiles laughed once again and shouted,

"THOSE LAST TWO CHAOS EMERALDS ARE AS GOOD AS MINE! You will go and find them for me...or it will be the death of your family..." My eyes were shut tight, but one of them had barely opened to look into his now dark eerie green eyes. More and more fear had come into my body, but it was way worse. Those eyes...what made them so evil? Was there some way that I could convince him to become good? There was no way...so I stood up, still grasping my throat in pain and grunted.

"I...ngh...would never...give you those emeralds..." I grunted again as I stood nothing but a few feet from him. His feet were at least a few inches off the ground, so he raised his foot back behind him and lunged it at my jaw, which threw me up into the air and back against the wall next to the cage. My parents gasped in fear as they saw me get hurt by one fell swoop of Mephiles' foot, but were only silenced from a glare from Mephiles' eyes.

"This is your last chance, Lauren...go find those emeralds...or I will end these lives over here..." He pointed his hand up to my parents a good ways away from the cage, suddenly emitting a yellow aura from around it. This element he was using was indeed electricity, obtaining it from the yellow Chaos Emerald, and it grew rapidly. My mom shook in fear, but my dad still had that glare on his face, staring into the eyes of that one black mass of evil.

Mephiles chuckled in delight, fascinated by my dad's courage. He walked closer to the cage and looked my dad straight in the eyes. With every ounce of courage in him, my dad stood up and walked over to the cage bars and gritted his teeth.

"Listen, you bastard...you'd better leave my daughter alone or I'll--" But his sentence was cut off by Mephiles phasing through the bars of the cage and flicking his finger on my dad's forehead, suddenly making him fall back onto the floor with much force. This made my dad shout loudly in pain as he rolled over onto his side, feeling the pain in his back, as it has been bothering him for quite sometime now. He grunted in pain for a moment then just stayed quiet, looking upward into Mephiles' eyes once again.

"You are quite the smart-ass, human. I wonder how Lauren will feel if I destroy you first...hmhmhm..." Mephiles raised his hand again about to shoot electricity from his fist, until he was grabbed by the back of the neck by a familiar hand. The hand was covered in a black and red substance, able to grab Mephiles with ease and then pulled him through the bars and back onto the wall behind him.

"GAAH!" Mephiles shouted as he hit the wall then growled looking to who it was that had attacked him.

That familiar hand was still covered in a black and red oozy substance, which led up to the arm, also covered in it, but as Mephiles looked up, he couldn't believe how it was that this person was still able to fight.

"Hehehehe....are you surprised, Mephiles? I think I have this power down." That person smirked and their fur was now a dark yellow color, clothes now all black, but with only one red stripe on the shirt. Yes...it was me. I had flickered over into my darkest form. My anger was too great to be held in any longer...Mephiles stood to his feet and snickered.

"My my...what have we here? So you finally know about the dark side of our super forms...hmhmhm...how quaint. You probably don't even know how to--GAH!" Mephiles' shout was heard again only by a simple thrust punch from one of my fists, which made him crash through the wall and into the hallway of the building, then skidding across the ground, finally stopping into the skating rink. Mephiles grunted and looked up, each of the five colors on his quills were flashing their individual color and then growled more, starting to show fangs from the black mass of his muzzle.

I stood there with that black and red aura surrounding me and beginning to form into what was sought to look like an eagle, it being the main mascot of my school. I snickered and showed fangs of my own back at him, eyes glowing from green then turning to dark red. Also, my snicker began to turn to evil-like giggles, which is something surprising from my mouth. I never giggled, I actually laughed hard, but in this case, the dark energy was taking over me, making me giggle like a simple little kid gawking at some other pathetic kid that was being bullied.

Mephiles floated upward a few inches off the ground, only to be knocked down again by another one of my thrust punches. I knew in my head that I was winning, but it wasn't really me in there...but another mind was in it...

"Hmhmhmhm......hehehe...AH HA HA HA HA HA!!!" I laughed heartily and loudly, hands placed out in front of me aways, and feet spread out a bit. That aura grew bigger and bigger by the second, not wanting to stop at all...my parents watched in fear as they saw what their daughter had become right before their eyes...

This was the darkest form that has ever been devised in the Sonic world...Dark Super had emerged from my body now...and this one was even more dark than any other form in the world...


	26. Chapter 26

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 26

7 Chaos Emeralds

My sinister laughing had continued, as Mephiles continued his attack on me, but failing miserably, feeling swoop after swoop of the dark energy inside me. My mind was completely blank at the time, and my eyes had turned as dark as they possibly could. Mephiles floated upward toward the ceiling and blew a gaping hole in it, but was knocked down two seconds later by a spinning axe kick that I had learned from Sonic, and landing Mephiles into the center of the skating rink. I looked down to him and snickered evilly again, then flying toward him, with two black and red orbs going ablaze in both of my hands. Mephiles' eyes widened, then he quickly rolled to the side, dodging the attack then felt a hand grab his neck and being slammed up against the wall of the room. Mephiles gagged and grunted trying to remove my hand from his throat, but at first had no luck in doing so.

"Hmhmhmhm...you really have gone too far, Mephiles...maybe I should destroy you here and now..." I smirked and showed the fangs in my mouth and then chucked his body into the other wall on the other side of the room, which was about a hundred feet away from me. I turned around and that black and red aura grew even bigger. Stepping forward a bit, I stopped and grinned more, glaring at Mephiles as he was in this state of pain. But this pain only lasted a second.

His quills began to glow their colors again, but this time, covering each of his quills in their required element: Ice, electricity, fire, poison, and nature. His favorite element, being poison, was glowing at the top quill on his head, getting completely submerged in that crystalline poison and getting bigger with each passing second. Mephiles smirked, showing that his fangs were growing inside his mouth and becoming as sharp as a blade that was freshly made. He laughed his evil laugh and I just stood there watching, wondering what I should do next. He continued to laugh and then five bright lights appeared around him. The five Chaos Emeralds he had were surrounding him and spinning in their place, circling him, while those green eyes of his turned to nothing but black just like the rest of his body. No sign of color was then seen on Mephiles' body, except the color shade from the shadows of the emeralds.

"Hmhmhm...HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! YOU'RE ONE PATHETIC KID, LAUREN!!! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE I'M GOING TO GET THOSE LAST TWO EMERALDS!!" Mephiles shouted at the top of his lungs, thus striking fear into the bodies of my family. I stood there with arms hanging in front of me, just watching, my fur still its dark yellow color, and my eyes still black, no pupils or irises to be seen. There was no joke here. Mephiles was about to transform, but I just laughed and stepped forward again, but was then frozen in place again. I shivered and felt a cold chill crawl up my spine and through my head.

This wasn't any ordinary feeling. Something was about to come out of me. I glanced up and then coughed, hitting my knees, grasping my throat, as if preventing something from coming out. I gagged and then spit up that orb of light that was placed inside of me before, but the colors of this orb were not white, but blue and white. That aura around me suddenly began to fade, then I glanced up at the orb, quickly recognizing what those two colors had represented.

"Th..Those are....the last...two Chaos Emeralds....they were--" I began, but was cut off by Mephiles' laughing.

"Inside of you! Exactly, kid! You were the holder of the blue and white Chaos Emeralds the entire time...and you brought them to me...Hmhmhm...come to me emeralds...and make me ALL POWERFUL!!!" Mephiles shouted again and the orb of blue and white light came to him, then shape shifting into, as I said, the last two Chaos Emeralds. The dark blue representing the power of water, and the white one compelling the power of light. With all of the seven Chaos Emeralds in Mephiles' grasp, I knew at that point that I was finished.

Mephiles took in all the emeralds and somehow combined with them, and then starting to shift into the worst monster that I have ever seen. His quills grew long almost touching the ground, but then his body began to grow as well, thus turning into a giant, destroying another gaping hole in the ceiling in the roof. My eyes grew wide, but then was grabbed out of the way of his sudden stomping of his foot. In the other room, my parents and my dog were then gone, also saved by three other figures that had gotten there in time.

Mephiles' quills were once again tipped with the five original colors and elements of the emeralds, but his two hands had been omitting the remaining two powered Chaos Emeralds, water and light, then was as giant as the building itself, maybe bigger. He laughed an evil laugh so sinister...it shook almost the entire planet earth around him. It struck fear into every heart in the world, my parents, my friends at school, everyone watched as they began to see how their world was tearing apart...this could have been the day...when Mephiles finally has won...


	27. Chapter 27

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 27

HyperSpace

That specific amount of power was just as everyone in the Sonic world had feared. Mephiles had become one of the darkest forms known to them all...the Dark Mass form. His eyes were now completely shrouded in darkness, but was able to see everything around him. Hands and quills glowing bright with the seven different Chaos Emeralds glow. He raised his head up to the night sky and it began to turn darker than before, only light that was shining was the moon's light, so barely anything was visible. Since every light around the place was broken, there was no light at all except the fact that the glows from Mephiles' quills were still being emitted.

My eyes had finally opened to see all of this, but only to make my attention turn to a very familiar face above me, holding me in his grasp, refusing to let go as they ran away from Mephiles' rampage. The thing was...Mephiles' hadn't caused any damage...yet.

The red echidna looked back and gasped to see that Mephiles had disappeared from their sight, but then glanced up and spotted Mephiles heading toward the light grey, blue tinted moon of our planet earth. My eyes widened to see this and got down from his arms and growled.

"Knuckles...what are you doing...we need to go after him!" I began to walk forward, but was grabbed by the shoulder of my love again, preventing me from going any further. He looked to me with a worried look, then turning into a glare. I blinked, knowing that he didn't want me to go off by myself again, so I stopped and left my hands hanging by my side.

"You need to let us handle this, Lauren...you've given up way too much energy. After what happened, you should rest this time." Replied Knuckles with a most serious look. I looked up, watching Mephiles as he flew toward the moon and away from our planet, then looked back down to the ground noticing seven small, gray rocks on the ground just laying there. I walked up to them with Knuckles following with a questionable look on his face.

"...Look. He left the Chaos Emeralds behind...so he sucked all the power out of them...how are we gonna beat him now...?" I asked picking up what used to be the red emerald.

"...Hmm..." Knuckles pondered for a moment, but was then stopped by me gasping a bit. He blinked, "What is it?"

"I remember something...from one of your adventures...when Chaos rampaged in that city. What Sonic did...maybe we could do the same. Whaddya think?" I asked tossing one of the emeralds to him. He caught it and blinked, looking to the emerald and suddenly spotting a small spark of light inside of it. It was glowing a faint green color, but Knuckles looked to me and nodded.

I then smirked and stood up, nodding back to him. We gathered the other emeralds and looked to each other. A bright spark of yellow light had emerged from in between me and Knuckles both. As it got brighter, the Chaos Emeralds began to regain their all powerful energy, getting even brighter by the second. Knuckles quickly looked to me and spoke,

"Lauren...you remember the legend to these emeralds?" I nodded and smiled wide. Finally I was standing in front of the one who originated from the Chaos Emerald guardians, about to recite the legend of the Chaos. I opened my mouth and began the poem,

"...The seven Chaos Emeralds are the servers..."

"...Chaos is power...power enriched by the heart..." Knuckles followed the speech.

"...The controller serves to unify the Chaos..."

Both our dreadlocks began to flare up to the sky along with a bright white aura surrounding us both. The aura around me turned into a red color, while the aura around Knuckles turned pink. Both of our fur was changing the color of that particular aura around us both. Knuckles opened his eyes and so did I, watching as the Chaos Emeralds circled around us, getting faster and faster by the second. We both raised our arms and then motioned them in front of us, downward, now becoming the most powerful of all forms in the Sonic world...Hyper.

Knuckles had become Hyper Knuckles...feeling the wind blow through his now pink colored, long dreads, while mine were the same length, but now a red color. We both looked to each other and nodded, smirking at the same time.

"Hehehe...you're finished Mephiles..." I chuckled and held out my hand to Knuckles.

"You got that right." He smiled and took my hand, then we both took off into the sky, heading to the depths of space...were we to find Mephiles still out there? Or will we be facing something....more...?


	28. Chapter 28

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 28

Dark Mass Solaris Is Revealed!

The depths of space were more astounding than I had studied in school. The stars and the moon were more beautiful up close than from a telescope. It didn't catch my attention until Knuckles snapped me out of it as we flew up into the massive darkness of space...and that huge mass of dark energy awaiting us in the sky, flashing the colors of the seven Chaos Emeralds.

"Alright Knuckles...let's show him what we're really made of." I smirked. Knuckles nodded and smirked back. We both glared at Mephiles that next second as we slowed to a stop, several hundred feet from him, realzing how big he had become. It ended up becoming a staring contest between Knuckles purple eyes, my green eyes, and Mephiles' eyeless face. He just clenched his fists and a cracking sound was heard, plus a small shockwave emitting from both from the elements of water and light.

Knuckles and I both raised our hands and blocked ourselves from the wave, but were slightly pushed back. I nodded over to Knuckles and raised my hand up to Mephiles, it slowly glowing a bright white color and then it surrounded my entire body in that same light. Knuckles, on the other hand, was covering himself with a purple aura that seemed to be the same element as Mephiles' crystalline poison, but was different. Knuckles threw a punch into the air at him and a massive purple fog had shot toward him in a swirl, making a tornado of poison air appear on contact. Mephiles only chuckled and swiped his hand across the fog and made it vanish into thin air, like there was nothing to it.

My eyes widened to see this, which didn't give me enough time to charge my attack any longer. I flat out came into a bright light aura, getting bigger by the second, and then flew at him. Being my hardheaded self, I knew ramming into him would've done something if I put some effort into it, and almost hitting the speed of sound with doing so, but I was only to be shot back aways past Knuckles with one fell swoop of Mephiles' hand.

"LAUREN!" Knuckles growled then jet out of his spot and also did the same, but somehow tackling him in the stomach did no good. Mephiles laughed again and knocked him back as well, but Knuckles, having more experience with his Hyper form, did stop himself, then look back to see me still regaining control. "Hey! You okay back there?!" He shouted.

"Don't worry! I've got it!" I raised my hands again and thrusted myself toward Mephiles, then vanishing in a red swirl. Mephiles glanced around, then laughed, knowing exactly where I was. He threw his left arm out and shot a massive amount of oceanic energy to his left and it revealed where I was, also making me fly back at a high speed. I grunted to feeling this, then quickly flipped back, shaking off the water that was plunged on me. The good thing about this state, you were able to recover more quickly than in the normal Super form. I did pant a bit, almost out of power from using the Hyper form for so long already, and just stared at him.

"AH HA HA HA HA!!! YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME YOU PATHETIC WEASELS!!!" Mephiles laughed and then smacked Knuckles flat back down to my planet earth, leaving nothing but a gaping crator in the crust, with Knuckles knocked out in the middle. My eyes grew wide again and I shouted,

"KNUCKELS--" But my shouting was quickly silenced by the grabbing from Mephiles' hand around my body.

"Ngh! Let...me...go!! MEPHILES!!" I grunted and struggled to get free from his grasp, but he only squeezed tighter to make me shout louder.

Right then, a loud laugh came from Mephiles' mouth. It wasn't because of him defeating both me and Knuckles, but it was because of a similar dark red aura surrounding my body so suddenly. It was that same aura that was consuming me from the past fight at the Palace Pointe building, except that it was coming out at a faster pace. Mephiles was squeezing the power out of me.

The seven Chaos Emeralds had burst out of me and fell to the ground, powerless once again, and my fur had turned back to its yellow color, and my eyes green. Mephiles laughed again to see a small white and dark red orb floating in front of my face. My eyes opened, barely able to hold them open to see what he had got out of me. I grunted and tried to raise my head to speak, but Mephiles just let his grip loose and my eyes widened more to find myself falling to the ground back to earth.

If I had hit the ground from this hight and in this form, I was probably going to die. My eyes closed and I passed out from the immense oxygen loss from falling from that hight, thousands and thousands of feet from the ground, from the cold air of the stratosphere. A bright red aura of fire was surrounding me as I fell, like a meteor hurdling toward earth. Knuckles was just waking up after these past few minutes of being knocked out, and held his head as he got up and out of the crater.

"Ungh...why that son of a--huh?" He looked up to see me falling to the ground about a half a mile away. He gasped and began to run as fast as he could to reach me. He jumped from the top of a tree and dove toward me, quickly grabbing me and landing underneath me on the ground, covered in the sudden smoke that surrounded us after the impact on the ground. He grunted and sat up, holding one hand under my head, then shaking me to try and wake me up. I opened my eyes and moaned a bit from the pain, and then looked up to Knuckles, who was now smiling to see that I was alright.

"Kn...Knuckles--" But he placed a finger on my lips to silence me from talking for the moment.

"You don't need to be talking...I'm just glad you're alright." He helped me onto my feet and I finally looked up toward the stars and saw that Mephiles had already changed into one of the most evil of the Sonic world, and also had combined...

Our eyes widened and we both said the name of that particular evil...

"...Dark Mass Solaris..."


	29. Chapter 29

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 29

All Is Well

The Dark Mass Solaris form was finally revealed to the entire world. Every soul on the planet was now quivering in fear because of all the dark energy spreading around it, consuming the planet in nothing but darkness. The planet was now in utter darkness, only light to be seen was the seven magical colors of the Chaos Emeralds. Shivers went down my spine from the sudden fear, but was easily calmed down by Knuckles holding onto my arms. I looked to him and he smiled, but the smile soon faded away and Knuckles then looked down.

"Knuckles...?"

"Hm?"

"Is there something wrong...?"

He hesitated to answer at first, but then looked back up to me, with some kind of distressed look. I blinked and placed a hand under his chin, but right then, a few vines from the trees around us had come up from the roots of the trees and wrapped around us. We both grunted as we were wrapped up tightly by the vines. I reached for Knuckles to grab his hand, but Mephiles' hand made them move apart, so we were both apart from each other for a least a few hundred feet.

"Knuckles!"

"Lauren!"

We both struggled as much as we could, but no luck with getting free. Mephiles, now in his solidified form of Solaris, laughed as evilly as he could and then flashed a bright white color, then forming into the body of the one and only Solaris. With seven wings this time, shining with each of the seven Chaos Emerald lights, the stubby like body was nothing but the black mass that Mephiles was, and the claws were now covered in that crystalline poison from his recent form. Solaris laughed outloud and made huge aura burst out of him. Mine and Knuckles' eyes grew wide as we watched, but then we were both thrown into the trees behind us and were almost knocked outcold.

I grunted and started to get up, growling and looking up to Solaris with great rage. Knuckles got up as well, then looked to me. He knew that this was the final battle with Solaris. If they were to save my planet, he would have to say what he had to say ever since he met me.

"Lauren..." I looked to him and blinked.

"What is it..." He looked into my eyes and blinked.

"There's...something I need to tell you..." I stared into his eyes as well, and suddenly calmed down, walking up to him slowly, grabbing onto the tree holding myself up. But before he could say anything, Solaris had shot a massive shockwave of electricity at both of us, sending us flying back into a few more trees. We both shouted in pain, then were suddenly swiped out of the way by two hedgehogs who were very familiar.

Sonic had jumped past the recent blast and grabbed Knuckles, getting him away from it, while Shadow had grabbed me like he would any girl, and jumped high into a tree, with me cringing.

"Easy kid. Pull yourself together." Shadow said as he set me on the branch next to him.

"Sorry, Shadow...ngh...now what do we do..?" I wondered holding onto my arm.

Solaris laughed outloud once again, destroying almost everything in his path on the earth. Everyone tried evacuating as much as possible, but for most it was already too late. Tears were shed because of lost loved ones, but we had protected as many as we could.

After a few minutes, I started to growl once again. My anger rose and both my hands had thrown up in the air as I jumped down from the tree pulling up a massive shield over every one of us. Knuckles nodded and thanked Sonic for getting him out of there, then he quickly ran over to me.

"Lauren...you sure you can hold that shield intact?"

"Y-Yeah...I think...ugh..." I hit one knee and the shield suddenly disappeared, but then quickly got back up, feeling a faint yellow aura surround me. "You guys...you need to help me...I can't...do this without you all..." My voice had suddenly echoed throughout the world, most recognizing it, most couldn't, but knew it was the voice of a hero calling out for support.

The entire world began to chant, go...go...GO! And they kept chanting for all of us. Sonic and Shadow had looked at each other and smirked, and with their speed, they collected the seven Chaos Emeralds and then brought them back to me and Knuckles. As they world chanted, the emeralds slowly began to regain their power once again, each shining brightly with each individual color: Red, blue, light blue, yellow, purple, white and green.

All that power cursed through each of our veins and finally let out a huge amount of light energy surrounded us four and the second best form of the Sonic world was revealed...the Super form. It may have been next best to Hyper, but with Sonic and Shadow with their gold spines, and Knuckles and me with just the pink aura and red aura, we were all ready for the final battle. I stepped forward and smirked, Sonic scratching under his nose and smirking, Shadow crossing his arms, and Knuckles cracking his knuckles, and just glared up at Solaris.

"There's only one way to defeat him for sure, kid. We have to send him into another dimension with Chaos Control. You do know how to make that happen, right?" Asked Shadow as he flew upward into the air in front of us all. I nodded and replied,

"Of course I do Shadow. Who do you think I am? Hehe." I smirked again then looked to them all. "You guys ready?"

"Hehehe. Always." Sonic smiled.

"Ready when you are." Knuckles nodded.

"This won't take long." I flew up leading the group up into space once again and glared at Solaris. "Alright Solaris...this is the last light you'll ever see." My hands glowed a very bright yellow as the others' were the same. Solaris attempted to attack all four at once, but we all flew out of the way. Sonic and Shadow shot a giant beam out of their hands to hold him back then Sonic looked back to me and Knuckles and shouted,

"Guys! DO IT NOW!"

"Right!" Knuckles and I both made a small orb of yellow light appear in both our hands, getting bigger and bigger with every second that passed.

"Ready Knuckles?"

"Ready." Our hands motioned over to Solaris and we both shouted,

"CHAOS...."

"...CONTROL!!"

The light was so bright, it consumed Solaris' entire body, including the wings and all. Solaris had then glown brightly, then shouted at the top of his lungs and then disappeared into thin air, nothing else to remain. Knuckles smirked and raised his fist in the air in victory, as Sonic shouted happily.

"Alright! Hehe, see ya on the flip side, Mephiles! Oh yeah...I guess I won't." Sonic laughed and Shadow gave just a simple smirk, also happy that Mephiles was gone.

Knuckles then looked to me and I was slumped over, but still floating there in space. He blinked and flew over to me,

"Hey...Lauren. You alright?" He budged me. I looked up a bit and was about to start falling, but was quickly caught by Knuckles placing his hands under me. As we were still out in space, I opened my eyes a bit to see Knuckles' smile as he looked to me.

"Hehe...I guess...we finally won, huh..." I smiled back weakly and placed a hand on his cheek. He smiled and nodded,

"Yep. We sure did..." He and the other descended to the ground and looked around to see everyone just now arriving to the scene, then powering down to our original forms. I smiled and stood up beside Knuckles, looking to Amy, Cream, Cheese, Tails and many more people coming up to us and hugging their loved ones. I almost yerked to being knocked down by Cream and Cheese, but kept my balance and laughed with them.

We had defeated Solaris for good now...and everything in the world was now back to normal. I smiled and looked up into the air, as it was now daytime after fighting all night. We lived out the rest of the day, resting, hoping to get my beloved planet earth back to it's original state...


	30. Chapter 30

Lauren the Echidna

Chapter 30

New Legion of Heroes

It had been a few hours of getting things straight with the land around us. Getting houses rebuilt, and friends and families getting settled back into their homes. I was indeed glad to have all that evil done and overwith, but found myself thinking...wait, I got to go see my parents! I looked to Shadow and wondered where they were and he pointed back toward Amy's house, where he told me he and Sonic took them there for protection. I nodded and ran off with Knuckles and everyone else following up behind me.

A few minutes passed and I ran into the house looking around for my parents, then hearing their voices call out my name, followed by a few loud barking sounds. I smiled wide and looked to the doorway toward the bedroom and saw both my parents and my eyes widened to finally see them, without any interruptions of the bad guys. I ran up to them and hugged them both, them wrapping their arms around me and my mom sobbing happily, my dad laughing, holding me close. I let them both go and then felt two furry paws jump onto my arm then hearing that bark again. Looking down to a white and brown spotted chihuaua and shitzu mixed dog staring at me with ears perked up and tail wagging. I smiled more and picked her up, hugging her.

"Oh my God, Sandy!" I laughed as she licked my face and barked again. I then put her down and my parents hugged me again. "Hehehe, alright alright! I'm okay now guys! You're choking meh!" I laughed as they once again let go.

Sonic and the others were just now coming in to see all this and they all smiled, except Shadow who was just giving a simple smirk. Knuckles was indeed smiling, then he walked up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked to him and he smiled, saying,

"Alright, kid. Time to get settled. Tomorrow we have something to show you."

"And you'll be quite surprised as to what it is." Replied Shadow.

"Uhh...well, alright then. Mom, Dad, why don't you both stay here for tonight? You could use the rest." I smiled up at them. They looked to each other and then nodded to me, setting aside all the differences that have been between them for so many years and then smiled.

"Alright then. But you'd better get to bed right now, Lauren. It's really late." My mom said and I just blinked.

"Ah, cmooon." I laughed nervously and then scratched the back of my head in embarrassment, then agreed with her.

So that night, everyone made their way back to their own homes and my parents were escorted into Amy's bedroom, where I used to sleep and just went to bed. I slept on the couch in the living room, with Knuckles laying by the side next to me. The night went on slowly, but it finally went by, the sun shining brightly in the sky.

Now it was Monday morning, usually the time for me to be going back to school, but since most of the planet was in ruins, the workers in each town were busy getting everything back to normal. I walked outside along with my parents, Knuckles and the others awaiting our arrival to Eggman's old base. Of course my parents were a bit freaked out to go back to where I was first captured, but since I was there, they felt safe. Right then, Shadow appears to us and walks beside me.

"Hm? Shadow...I thought you were at the base by now." I asked.

"I was...but I thought it would be faster to take you there with Chaos Control. But..." He began.

"But what...?" I wondered. Shadow's face saddened in a surprising way, then he looked to me.

"We aren't able to get back to our homeworld of Mobius..." My eyes widened to hear this. Wait...what did he mean, can't get back? It was sure puzzling to me, but I then remembered at one point where they couldn't get back to their home planet before, but somehow they got back.

"B...But...wait wait, hold on. Then what's with the big surprise you guys are gonna show me?" I blinked, feeling a drop of sweat fall down my face. Shadow held out his hand to us all and nodded to them. My mom grabbed Sandy, following her and my dad's hands touching Shadow's, then waited for me to come along. I shook my head.

"I'll catch up with you later, Shadow." He then nodded and shouted Chaos Control, then they were gone in an instant. I looked to that spot then sighed. I guess it was too good to be true...if they stayed, our planet would be in even more danger. I looked down to the ground, until I heard a very familiar voice comes from behind a tree.

"Lauren?"

"Hm? ...Oh...Knuckles. Hey." I said looking over to him.

"You okay?" He asked walking up to me. I nodded and just smiled at him, but with a bit of difference. He looked at me closer and placed a hand on my cheek. I blinked and looked into his eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay...?" He asked again.

"Y-Yeah...of course. Why?" I blushed a bit, which had been quite awhile since I've done that, then looked away. Knuckles brought my attention back to his eyes and then smiled again.

"Lauren..."

"Yeah...?"

"That thing I wanted to tell you...has been on my mind for quite awhile now..." He looked into my eyes more and I blinked, blushing red.

"What is it..." He hesitated at first, but then smiled more and spoke,

"...I...I love you..." His words...sounded so sincere...so serious. My eyes widened to hear this and I blushed even more, suddenly glad to hear that someone actually loves me...but Knuckles? Out of all people. It was a big surprise for me, but then felt his lips meeting with mine, kissing me deeply as we stood there among the trees. His hand moved to my shoulder and my hand moved up to his cheek. After a few seconds, Knuckles pulled back smiling down to me, as I opened my eyes and blushed a red color, also smiling.

"I...love you too, Knuckles."

"Hehe...let's get you to the base." Knuckles takes out one of the Chaos Emeralds and he also uses Chaos Control to transport both of them to Eggman's old base. Everyone looked to us and then smiled, including my parents. But one of them was a frown...from Sonic who walks up to Knuckles and takes the emerald from him. I blinked and asked,

"Wh...What's going on, here?"

"There's one little choice here Lauren...I know you enjoyed being like us, but now you can either stay as an echidna--" Sonic began, but Shadow steps forward and speaks,

"Or go back to being your human self...and back to your family."

My choice was already clear. I had walked up to the machine as Sonic placed the last Chaos Emerald in it, thus powering it up. I walked in and there was a bright light that shined over everyone, making them cover their eyes. After the light had faded, there was no sign of me anywhere. Knuckles blinked and looked around, as well as everyone else. My parents looked around, worried to where their daughter had gone, but was then interrupted by a clearing of the throat. Everyone looked up and spotted that very same yellow echidna standing on top of the machine, arms crossed and smirking down to them all. Knuckles smiled and chuckled a bit, realizing that my choice was final.

My parents couldn't help but smile at me, knowing that I was better off as an echidna like Knuckles, and around friends who cared. But I wasn't done there. I looked to Sonic and smirked,

"Hey, Sonic. This thing is still workin, right?" He looked to me and blinked, tilting his head, but then nodded.

"Yeah, why?"

I looked to both of my parents and smiled, then jumped down from the top and walked up to them both.

"Hey...wouldn't it be better...if you two joined me?" Everyone's eyes widened but then they went back to a bit of a smile, because they knew what I was talking about.

"I...I don't know, Lauren. Wouldn't it be hard...?" My mom asked. I just rolled my eyes and looked to my dad, who was still smiling.

"Trust me...mom...dad...things will be easier for us if you become like us."

It took a few minutes, but I finally convinced my parents to go and transform. They both walked into the machine and that same light shown, then soon died down to find my parents both on the other side standing around, looking at themselves. Sandy was no different, since she didn't go in, she just tilted her head and barked to seeing a light green and blue female hedgehog with bangs and yellow eyes, then beside her was a dark blue male hedgehog with orange stripes, orange eyes, a grey leather jacket and orange pants, standing on rocket powered skate shoes, like Shadows'.

I smiled and then walked up to them,

"So...what's it like?"

"It feels...different...but I like it." Smiled my dad, putting his hands in his pockets. Mom looked at her hands and then blinked saying,

"I...I guess this is okay." I chuckled and hugged them both.

"Well...welcome to the Sonic crew." I smiled. Everyone else cheered in delight and the day went on. The trees blowing in the wind, and leaves blowing everywhere, as it was starting to get close to the season of autumn. But we all ran into the sunlight as the day closed to an end...and went on with our new lives in the Sonic world...


End file.
